Chapter 174

There was a long silence.

The rain sizzled above my father and turned to steam before it even hit him.

The doctors were still working on Hawks.

"Or at least he'll go to Tartarus if he doesn't die on the way"

The remark put him on edge.

He clenched his fists, veins throbbing against his forehead and throat, rain turning into hissing drops of steam meters above our heads.

The President looked at him without flinching, yet with one hand she adjusted the collar of her blazer to clear her throat. Drops of sweat trickled down her temples.

I didn't know if my father planned to hit her and I didn't know what to do in the eventuality he did.

My loyalty would compel me to support him, but I was pretty sure that going after the Commission's President was the worst decision we could make.

If the worst happens, Granny will find a way to get us out of the country.

To my surprise, Dad finally pulled his cell phone out of his pocket.

Of course, that should have been my first thought - not everything can be solved with violence.

He scrolled through his messages and landed on the one he'd received less than an hour earlier.

"Care to explain ?"

He casually tossed the phone to the President.

She made no move to catch it : Sila's hand suddenly snatched it from the air.

The soldier - henchwoman or whatever - turned the screen towards her boss.

Pantu remained impassive.

"Interesting indeed"

"Did you order the murder of my son ?" my father asked coldly.

"Come on, Endeavor," the President said, "If we had, you know he'd be dead by now"

To my surprise, the heat subsided and my father's skin reverted to human's.

The President's eyes focused on a spot further behind us.

"Is he, by the way ?"

"If it's not you then how did you get here so quickly ?"

Pantu gestured to my father with her chin and Sila threw back his cell phone, which he grabbed without looking.

"Same way you did : we followed the fire"

Suspicious.

And very wrong, especially considering the number of people I could hear talking at the foot of the building.

No one would mobilize that many people this fast for a random fire.

"We all know what happened eleven years ago," the president said. "This isn't the first time your son has tried to deal with Hawks : he just wanted to finish what he started last time"

Dad didn't react.

So he knows that Touya practically roasted Keigo ten years ago, and yet he was willing to kill him...?

If I'd been the one to roast Keigo, he would have protected me as much as he did Touya - if not more.

First a father, then a man and finally a Hero...

"Or Hawks wanted revenge and lured him here by some shady means," Dad replied. "We have no way of knowing what happened until they tell us themselves"

"If they can tell us," the president said calmly. "Shall we ?"

She crossed the roof, hands clasped behind her back, towards Touya.

My father hesitated but eventually followed : I followed at a safe distance, my attention wandering to Keigo now and then.

The president watched Touya impassively, walking past his body and the pools of coagulated blood until she finally stood behind his head.

"He has lost a lot of blood"

Her eyes shone like two jade mirrors, each reflecting Touya's inert body.

"Sila"

The woman conjured another bubble of water and another man, perfectly dry, emerged from the watery womb.

He approached the body and the President raised a hand, her gaze darting to my father; the would-be doctor stood still.

"Despite the unfortunate situation we find ourselves in tonight," Pantu said, "Touya Todoroki still represents a trump card in the capture of All for One. I hope you know that I won't harm him if only because of the strategic importance he holds for us"

"Proceed," my father authorized

Pantu nodded in agreement and motioned for her henchman to get to work.

He crouched down, hands illuminated by a golden light that stretched from Touya's feet to his head.

"Diagnosis", he said.

We waited without a word, the rain filling the silence.

"Is he dead ?", the President asked.

My father tensed and, for a second, I wondered if he would go after Keigo for revenge despite the President's presence - that's what I would have done in his place.

"If he's dead that makes your Hero a murderer," my father spat.

The President's lips tightened.

"The public will never believe that Hawks planned his assassination : your son is still miles away from where he was placed under house arrest. There's every reason to believe he was the one who sought out the confrontation with Hawks"

"He has a traumatic brain injury," the doctor whispered so quietly that only I could hear him. "If I use stimuli..."

Like me, the doctor tried painful stimuli. As before, Touya didn't react.

"As you said yourself," my father added, "We all know what happened eleven years ago. Your Hero may have wanted revenge"

"That still doesn't explain why your son is here"

"Coma"

Everyone fell silent.

"We'd have to do blood tests and an electroencephalogram to be sure," the doctor continued, "But everything indicates that he is in a coma"

I looked up at my father.

His gaze was riveted on Touya, his eyes wide as if he couldn't believe it, his muscles tensed as if he wanted to rush towards him but was forcing himself not to.

I knew what he was saying to himself : he'd lost his son. Again.

I was torn between the pain of seeing my father suffer and the satisfaction of knowing that this was the best case scenario for me.

I hadn't killed him, but the world had gotten rid of Touya for me.

Hawks was alive, too.

Things couldn't have been better.

Dad opened his mouth ; the president cut him off.

"Refusal to have him hospitalized at home"

She tried to hide it, but her irritation and anger were visible.

"He won't go to the Commission," scowled my father.

"I propose a compromise," I said, and the president turned her head toward me as if I were a decorative object that had learned to speak. "A private hospital, which we'll pay for, and daily supervision by the Commission. When he wakes up... we'll deal with that later"

If he wakes up.

The President watched me silently for a moment.

"Endeavor?" she asked.

His gaze hadn't left Touya's sprawled body.

"Isn't there anything we can do ?"

He didn't look at me, but I knew he was talking to me.

"Nothing", the doctor said.

He didn't react.

"I've never heard of anyone with a Quirk being able to bring someone back from a coma," I said.

He nodded three times in a row, his gaze hard, his sadness visible in every crease of his face, every hollow of his wrinkles, every tired inflection of his muscles.

He was so old and frail...

"Dad" I said, "Maybe your career as a Hero-"

Suddenly, my cell phone vibrated against my thigh.

I frowned in surprise as I pulled it out.

Almost all of my contacts were on silent, except in cases of extreme-

My breath caught in my throat.

Uraraka had just sent her geolocation to the entire class followed by three letters : AFO.