[ENG]Shoto Todoroki : Modern-day Terrorist

Chapter 146

My eyes fell on Iida, in a wheelchair, sitting next to the lectern.

He was wearing a high-quality black two-piece suit and a scarf tied so tightly around his neck that it looked like a hanging rope.

His gloved hands were resting motionless on his thighs, one on top of the other.

His face was as grey as the sky above us, his chapped lips covered with dead skin and cracked with trickles of blood.

A cold wind came up and blew the empty left leg of his trousers like a flag on a flagpole. The trousers slapped against the right leg, filled with flesh and blood, then inflated like a parachute before rolling up and falling onto his hands.

Iida, staring into space, didn't notice.

The man holding the handles of the wheelchair leaned over Iida and pushed the piece of cloth firmly back into place.

Black on black, the illusion reformed.

It was almost as if Iida had two legs.

- ...now a word from her family

The headmaster jumped down from his pedestal and let a brunette with a bun take his place.

Her wrinkled face was ordinary, except for her strange turquoise eyes that shimmered like a sea of diamonds in the blazing sun.

- Toru is... Toru was full of life

Apparently, it was Yaoyorozu who had found her in her room.

Even though she'd left Yuei, Momo - from what Bakugo had told me - had maintained close ties with the girls in the class.

She regularly visited Toru in her hospital room, hoping that she would wake up.

Bakugo thought it was because she was trying to convince herself to go back to Yuei, and I thought it was because she was lonely.

Last Saturday, while she was changing her flowers, Toru suddenly woke up.

She was in great spirits, asked to see her parents, asked Momo to order food for her because she was 'starving' and 'hospital food is terrible'.

She also asked for a mirror.

Momo said she cried when she realised she'd never be the 'invisible' girl again.

Then, late that night, when her parents had not yet returned from her grandmother's funeral, her blood pressure plummeted and her condition became catastrophic.

Momo had said that Toru had shaken her hand in a way that meant she didn't want to be left alone, but she had been forced out of the room when the doctors decided to start the electric shocks.

Soon after, Toru was dead.

It is called 'final lucidity', the last gasp of life just before the end.

- I would like to thank all of you, her friends and classmates, for taking the time to come here today

There was polite applause.

Toru's father spoke, followed by her uncle, brother and cousin.

I listened politely, my eyes constantly returning to Iida.

He just stood there, staring into space, impervious to the world.

I wondered why Nezu had put him up there, on the platform, so close to those who were wailing against the blow of fate that had taken their daughter, their sister, their friend.

I wondered if Nezu wanted us to feel lucky not to be Iida or Hagakure, if he wanted us to feel lucky to be mere spectators of their tragedy.

I wondered if Iida felt lucky in comparison.

He could never be a hero again, all right, but he was alive, wasn't he? He would find something else, another career, another passion. And yet I couldn't help feeling sorry for him and his infirmity and weakness.

Perhaps he would have preferred to die there, under the rubble, but the fierceness with which his brother looked after him made me believe that his family were more than happy that he had come back to them alive, even if he was in pieces.

Katsuki, standing to my left, nudged me lightly.

I turned my chin slightly towards him.

Behind his profile, I caught a glimpse of Uraraka tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.

The scent of Katsuki was on her skin and hair.

- Kaminari's family, he said.

His gaze shifted for a second to the old couple, huddled together as if that would protect them if the world fell apart.

Kaminari's family had refused to allow the members of Yuei to attend his cremation, saying they wanted to mourn in private.

They didn't look like Denki at all.

- Adopted, I whispered to Katsuki.

He nodded.

The ceremony ended half an hour later.

The family had decided to bury Hagakure, which was a miracle in our country if you could get permission.

It must have been Nezu's way of making up for the chaos...

I was surprised that there had been no hysterics or attempts to strangle the rat for endangering so many students.

Everyone had been calm, polite, civilised, as if we hadn't buried a child.

There was a slight murmur in the crowd and everyone dispersed into groups.

Uraraka went off to chat with the girls - Yaoyorozu had come for the occasion - and I looked at Katsuki as he watched her go.

He met my gaze calmly.

- There's a cold buffet at their house afterwards, Katsuki said. Her parents would like to talk to everyone

Katsuki hadn't broached the subject and I wasn't the type to force his hand.

I pointed at Iida, surrounded by the boys, smiling weakly, his thin, hollow cheeks struggling to make the slightest movement.

Hanta and Kirishima were clowning around to amuse him, and it seemed to be working.

- Aren't you going to see them ?

He shrugged.

- I've never been very nice to him, he said. I don't feel like being friends with him now that he's...

He left his sentence hanging, his eyes riveted on the part of his trousers where there was no leg.

- I'll be off, I said.

- Hagakure's parents really insisted. You should come along

- Hawks wants me to keep working at the construction site as long as possible until we're done

We both knew it was a lie.

- Suit yourself

I took my motorcycle helmet from my rucksack.

- And , I added, Buffets at funerals...

The memory of a bright day and a teenage boy smiling and crying came back to me.

- ... are not really my thing

Do Hagakure's parents also believe that she died a hero ?

*

Author's note :

A short chapter today because the previous one was equivalent to nearly two chapters.

Tell me in the comments about your thoughts concerning the new lore I dropped last chapter and about the new developments for the 1-A students.

Honestly I don't think I could have become a Hero - beyond needing a good enough Quirk, being selfless enough to put your life on the line is something to admire and that not everyone possesses, so yeah.

If you want to read ahead of schedule up to 27 chapters (and read the infamous 'Eyes of God' chapter) then go check the story's P@treon, Nar_cisseENG

See you in the next update everyone !