Chapter 11: Midoriyado

"Mother, are you all right? You've been silent for a while now."

Rei blinks, she found herself staring at the face she marred.

"Mother?" Shouto frowns, monochrome eyebrows furrowing together.

The sudden blow of the wind takes her by surprise, sending a couple of leaves flying. It's rather cool for a summer day in Tokyo, she could feel her hair standing up and her pores tightening as she gripped something cold and metal. The hand rest in a wheelchair. She was sitting in a wheelchair. The cicadas are humming as if conducting their own version of an orchestra. A distinct high-pitched voice of children shrieking can also be heard from the background, probably in the playground next to the garden or maybe because the children's ward is a few meters away from where they are.

They are currently in the middle of the hospital garden, where Shouto promised he'll bring her.

But none of these matters. All she could fully focus on is the smooth pinkish-red scar surrounding his left eye. Stormy eyes dilated in horror, experiencing all the sensations she felt on that day. That day when she did this to him.

"Oh no, I'm sorry, Shouto. I'm sorry," Rei traced the scar with her fingers, her hand shaking vigorously. The desperation in her voice made her sound like she was begging instead of apologizing. "I didn't mean to do this to you, I'm sorry for doing this to you..."

Rei started saying, blabbering, rather, things he couldn't understand, things he couldn't have a grasp on. She's so similar to a baby who just learned how to talk. It's frightening. Yet he tries not to show it on his face. Instead, he reassuringly pats her shoulder.

"Okaa-san, I forgive you. It's all in the past now."

This, however, only caused her more agitation. She stands up from her wheelchair, almost immediately toppling over the ground. He hurriedly goes to her side and tries to aid her, but she pushes him away with a strength that was unknown to him. Wide-eyed, Todoroki found himself sitting on the grassy ground, watching helplessly as his mother thrashes and wails around like a mad woman.

He refuses to accept that she is.

Suddenly, her whole body cramped up and she was wheezing like a person having an asthmatic attack.

"Mother...?" Todoroki feels like he's experiencing a flashback.

No, she never did this before. He has no bloody idea what the fuck is happening right now. All he knows is that she made him feel so scared and stupefied numerous times in the past, just like now.

Back then, Todoroki always contemplates how did Enji get his mother trap inside the psychiatric ward for so long? Surely, bribe money has its limits, right? But then, as he grew older, he remembered the times when Rei experienced her... episodes. She would be talking to herself, then would start to screech, "Shut up! Shut up!" Even though she was alone in the room. There are times when she fought back against the bastard, and it would come as too much of a shock for him that he wouldn't dare go near her for a week. Some days she would be so ecstatic and confident that if she aspired for World Domination, Todoroki would believe that she can actually achieve it. Then there are days when she's absolutely inconsolable and would cry for 5 hours straight. And the cause for her intense grief? She just felt like it.

Shouto hates his father for all the abuse mad her underwent and for simultaneously causing his mother to become like this. But he will not turn a blind eye to all her mother's faults.

"Mother, please." Shouto felt his eyesight blurring. He hated himself because up until now, he doesn't know and can't do anything about it.

"She's hyperventilating, panicking with her won't help."

Todoroki turns his head upon hearing the familiar voice. He sees a bushy head of green.

"Miss, please breathe using this."

Midoriya Izuku takes out the content of a brown paper bag, which looks like a sandwich, before positioning the bag in front of her face. At first, there is rapid inflation-deflation of the paper bag, then slowly it steadies, signifying that she's respiring normally. Ash-colored eyes that were formerly dilating slowly regulate to their normal size. Her rigid body relaxes.

It appears that she is finally calming down.

"Sorry if it smells like a tuna sandwich," He adds as an afterthought, scratching the back of his head.

Apparently, due to the scene she has caused, the nurses were immediately notified of what happened. After asking multiple questions to Shouto that may have triggered Rei's hyperventilation, she was taken by her personal doctor to conduct an impromptu session to find out what happened. Shouto is informed that she hasn't had her attacks for a while now, and was suggested to be cautious on his next visit (but he knows that what they really mean is that it might not be advisable for him to visit her mother anytime soon).

Midoriya waits for him until he finishes talking to the doctor.

"Sorry for making you wait," He says, "and thank you for what you did earlier."

The green curly top shakes his head, offering a shy smile. "I'm glad that the meager knowledge I learned in college was of use to someone."

"What do you mean?" Todoroki arches an eyebrow.

The curly-haired man turns away, noticeably flustered and fidgeting a little. "Shall we get going?"

Even though he knows it was Midoriya's lame ploy to change the topic, Todoroki nods.

The pair starts walking.

"I took a medical course back in college." Surprisingly, Midoriya talks without further coaxing from him. "My step-father had an incurable disease and he died just as I was about to graduate middle school. So I vowed to myself that I'll become a doctor to find a cure for that disease and save those who are afflicted to repent for not being able to save the person dearest to me. Cliché, I know."

Midoriya laughs harshly.

"I find it admirable, actually," Todoroki says. "To have a concrete goal for the future is an amazing feat, especially for someone as young as you are. Some people shrivel up and die without even having a specific direction to their lives. So don't call yourself as 'cliché' because, in fact, you're an amazing person."

"Why are you talking like an old man?" Midoriya pouts, trying to hide the color on his cheeks. "Geez, aren't you 4 years younger than me?"

"I think age doesn't reflect a person's ability to find brilliance."

"You're wasting such kind words on me," Under the dim streetlights, Midoriya appears to have clouded eyes. "Yes, I had a dream. But a dream is just a dream unless you have the capabilities to pursue it. I had big dreams, Todoroki-kun. But I didn't take into account that in order to achieve such a dream, you must have equally great steps in order to reach it. And maybe my feet aren't that big because my steps weren't enough. I ended up stopping for a year when I was already so close to graduating and finally reaching med school."

Midoriya gasps upon realizing his outbursts. He lowers his head, hiding his face underneath the bushyness of his hair.

"Sorry, I didn't really mean to..." He trailed off, not really knowing what he was trying to say in the first place.

The two continued walking in silence

"You're still amazing, Midoriya."

Midoriya looks at his companion with an unreadable look n his face. Todoroki meets his gaze and smiles.

"There's nothing wrong with admitting that you need rest."

Midoriya is the first to break their interlocking gaze. His forest green eyes are starting to water, but he immediately rubs his eyes with the back of his hand.

"Thanks,"

He says with a voice that is smaller than an ant's. But Todoroki hears it. He says nothing.

Their journey continues in total silence.

Only when they arrive at the intersection does Todoroki speak.

"Before we part ways, may I ask you something?"

Midoriya jumps upon hearing Todoroki's voice. He's so deep in thought that he completely forgot that there was someone with him.

"Yes?" Midoriya says, his voice quivering.

"It has been bothering me for quite some time now. What were you in the psychiatric ward's garden?"

"Oh, yeah! You probably thought I appeared out of nowhere. Every Sunday, I volunteer at the children's ward to, you know, read or play games with terminally ill children. As you know, the children's and psychiatric ward are right next to each other and I was merely passing by when I saw you and your mother." He explains, scratching the back of his ears.

"You really are an amazing person. You even do charity work in your spare time."

"I'm just trying to be a decent human being."

"May I come with you?" Todoroki suddenly asks.

"What?"

"I want to try being a decent human being, too." He declares.

It made Midoriya chuckle. "You can be a decent human being by doing other actions, Todoroki-kun."

"I want to follow your way." Todoroki beams. "The Midoriya way. Midoriyado." He even supplies a stupid name for it.

Midoriya bursts out laughing now. It makes Todoroki glad that he's finally made the scowl on Midoriya's face disappear.

It was odd, Todoroki thought he knew everything about Midoriya already at this point. But he is wrong. He has only scratched the surface of Midoriya's totality. But he will soon find out everything later in their friendship. But for now, Todoroki isn't aware of this side of Midoriya.

He isn't aware of Midoriya's habit of scratching the back of his ears whenever he lies.