The Story Of Us (Todobaku)

Shouto's First Day

~KINDERGARTEN~

Shouto Todoroki held onto his mother Rei as dozens of eyes stared at him.

The lady on the other side of him, Miss Yukizome, placed a hand on Shouto's shoulder before addressing the room.

"Everyone, this is Shouto. He'll be joining our class for the rest of the year. Can everybody please say hello?"

"Hi Shouto," they replied. The enthusiasm in their voices startled the boy.

Rei crouched down and caressed her son's hair. "Honey, why don't you say hi to your new classmates?"

Shouto peered back at the sea of children gawking at him like he was some zoo animal. His eyes bulged out while the rest of his body remained frozen. All the colorful art projects pinned to the back wall and the assortment of toys scattered on the floor didn't change the fact that this was a very scary place.

He'd never been around so many kids his own age before. In fact, he hardly had any interaction with children his age at all. Most of his five years on earth were spent in the confinement of the Todoroki household, with the occasional shopping trip with his mom. His father had to approve any other time he left the house, and he didn't permit it often.

So being thrown into a new environment with a bunch of people he didn't know overwhelmed Shouto to great heights. He'd been dreading this day for almost a week now, ever since his parents got into an intense argument over it right in front of him.

"He doesn't need kindergarten," his dad spat. "There's nothing they can teach my boy at that school that he can't learn at home."

"He needs to be around other children," Rei pleaded with him. "He's five years old and he doesn't even have any friends!"

Shouto's dad scoffed. "What good does it do to have friends at this age? Hanging around the kids that live in this neighborhood will only slow him down. My son is gifted and he should be treated as such." 

"Stop saying he's your son! He's ours!"

Shouto fought back tears as their bickering shifted to yelling. He held his hands over his ears to muffle the noise, but they shouted loudly enough that he still heard every bit of it. He hated how often his parents fought about him. He tried his best to be a good kid so they wouldn't argue so much, but maybe he needed to try harder.

That fight made him want to attend kindergarten even less. It would just be another thing for his mom and dad to scream at each other for. Not that he had a great impression of it to begin with. His brother Natsuo told him that on the first day of kindergarten, an alien spaceship comes to the school and snatches all the children away and replaces them with alien clones. His sister Fuyumi assured him that Natsuo was just messing around, but Shouto had his doubts.

Everyone was still staring at him, waiting for him to speak. This was going to take a whole lot of bravery, certainly more bravery than Shouto's tiny body could handle. But with his mother beside him, he conjured just enough.

"Hi," he quickly muttered before throwing his arms around Rei's neck, hiding his face in her blouse.

Rei chuckled as she hugged Shouto back and stood up, lifting him in the process. She held him tight, doing her best to rub comforting circles into his back but struggled as Shouto still had his backpack on.

"Is it okay if we take a moment in the hall?" she asked Miss Yukizome.

"Of course," Miss Yukizome replied. "Take all the time you need. We'll be here when Shouto's ready to join us."