The Girl With A Demon Quirk || BNHA fanfic

45 | What is love?

Todoroki Shouto

What was love? Todoroki Shouto wouldn't know. His family had no love, except the love of his mother and his siblings. There was no mutual love between the parents. Some say children were created from the love of two people: but Todoroki Shouto wasn't, for he was just a 'product' created by his father to create the perfect hero.

Whenever Todoroki Shouto saw a happy family walking on the streets, he couldn't help but wonder. Why was their family filled with love and joy, but mine isn't?

During his younger days in school, the teachers taught that families were precious treasures. Even the illustrations in his textbooks were drawn as a happy father and mother, along with their happy children.

But in reality, Todoroki Shouto's family was never like that: it was anger, agony, pain, sadness. The happy families that were in the textbooks, the happy families of the people around him, never resonated with the boy.

This is a lie. Shouto thought whenever he sees a happy family on his textbook, and he would colour the faces of the father black, just as how he had hoped his father would be. Hatred had been the only thing that kept him going, ever since his beloved mother was taken away from him. The part where the boiling water scalded him still ached after weeks whenever he thought of her.

It's all your fault. I hate you.

In Shouto's world, the phrase 'happy family' never existed.

***

"Do you want to visit mom?" Todoroki Fuyumi, Shouto's older sister asked as she knelt down beside Shouto. Shouto was rolled into a ball, a defensive position he held whenever Fuyumi asked him to visit his mother.

He didn't hate his mother; instead, he loved her very much. He had yearned for her warmth, her touch, her voice...... but he couldn't take it upon himself to visit her.

For he knew he was the reason why his mother had ended up like this.

Shouto had hypnotised himself that his presence was why his mother had become mentally unstable. If only I had been stronger, then that person wouldn't hurt her... then she would......

No matter how many times Fuyumi tried to coax him, he wouldn't listen. Fuyumi was barely 13 that time; she didn't know the appropriate words to console the boy, to tell him it was never his fault. Without proper counselling, Shouto's mentality and mind had begun to be twisted.

...... I will be stronger. I will protect my mother.

......I will never use this quirk of his. Ever. I never want to be like him. Ever.

"Ice cream! I'll buy you ice cream! Strawberry-flavoured right? And I'll buy you cold soba too!" Fuyumi did her best to cheer her brother.

At least, in this cold, vacant house, Shouto's sister was still there for him.

He had two other brothers: Touya and Natsuo. Natsuo had been sent to his maternal grandparents, while Touya......

Shouto let his older sister pull him along. Her big, cool yet somehow warm hand gripped Shouto's tight, as if she was afraid he would disappear out of sight. It was a cooling spring afternoon. The trees lined by the streets had blossomed with beautiful, pink sakura, littering the streets pink petals.

"What do you want? I know! You like this one, right?" Fuyumi asked as she showed an ice-cream cone she had picked up from the freezer outside of a small shop. Shouto's eyes glittered with joy but he refused to let it show on his face.

Standing near the pair of siblings was a family of four. The little girl had purple hair tied into double pigtails. She was tugging her father's sleeve as he picked ice cream from the refrigerator which was loomed over the little girl. Shouto was immediately disgusted with the father character.