MHA : Shoto Todoroki - Modern-day Terrorist

THREE MONTHS LATER

"Today our guest is someone we have all heard about and who has yet to make a public apparition : let's welcome none other than Dynamight !"

People cheered.

Katsuki steeled himself, plastering on a fake smirk.

Nezu had told him it looked more natural on him than All Might's megawatt smile, even though it made him look cocky.

While they might have aimed for an 'All Might' vibe, Katsuki still needed to stand out enough on his own.

"Thank you for having me", he said, shaking the anchorwoman's hand.

"None of that", Kameno said, her teeth a dizzying white. "We're among friends !"

She kissed him on the cheeks, standing on her tiptoes to graze his jaw even though she was wearing heels.

"Can you see how tall he is ?", she laughed, sharing a knowing smile with the public "The girls at Yuei must all been fawning over you"

Katsuki nodded, unable to find anything smart or witty to answer.

Nezu had told him to only answer smart or witty things, though if he had nothing to say he shouldn't go Endeavor's route (rude and unbothered) because they didn't want unnecessary comparisons between him and a former Hero now internationally wanted criminal.

So smiling it was, even though it hurt his cheek.

"I wouldn't know", he said. "I spend my time training or patrolling"

And girls didn't want to spend time with him.

Actually, no one except 1-A's students wanted to speak with him, and even they didn't do it often because of how snappy Katsuki had grown since… Only Izuku – and sometimes Kirishima because he was nice like that - dared to eat lunch with him, and wasn't it pathetic ?

Kameno playfully hit him on the arm.

"Can you see how studious he is ? Our country's future is in good hands with him !"

People cheered, and Katsuki's fake smile turned genuine.

Being a Hero was for him but also for the people who slaved at jobs they hated 24/7.

He'd bring them peace and faith in the future.

The interview rolled easily, Katsuki the practiced answers Nezu and him had prepared. When Kameno sneakily tried to bring the Todoroki into the conversation, Katsuki bluntly shut it down.

Two weeks ago, Shoto had contacted him. There'd been a note on his desk.

Katsuki had read and burned it, choosing not to answer.

After the Todoroki's escape, people's opinions were equally divided.

Cynic supported them – Shoto was a kid and he'd been sentenced to a lifetime in prison through unlawful procedures – while realistic wondered why they hadn't bothered sneaking out Hawks with them. They called them selfish.

Then, once things died out, everyone remembered that despite vastly contributing to Tokyo's defense once the Nomus tried to overtake it, Endeavor had still quit after a terrorist attack without as much as a public statement. It didn't matter that All Might had done the same thing and had not even contributed that night.

Some were jealous of the hefty money Endeavor had given his former employees when most people could barely afford to pay for food.

More and more had turned against them, but it didn't matter because they'd left and wouldn't return.

Katsuki hadn't cared. There were still volcanoes erupting throughout Japan and, contrary to most people, he knew why there'd been this sudden outburst. It worried him.

Kameno smiled and leaned forward conspiratorially, teeth sparkling like jewels.

"But what everybody wonders about is : are you All Might's secret love child ?

Katsuki smiled, though it was strained.

His parents had begrudgingly accepted to play along with the 'All Might's son' scenario concocted by Nezu, even though it was what the country needed : a familiar figure with a fresh face, someone they could believe would be able to save them.

"My hair's spikier"

The anchorwoman laughed, and everybody else did too.

"What a cheeky boy ! Well, thank you for your time, Mr Bakugo, and hopefully we'll see you soon again !"

*

Teka coughed dryly, drinking her chamomile to soothe her sore throat.

Her lungs were burning.

She kept writing.

If only you could see him, you'd be proud of him.

The older he grows, the more he looks like you. Sometimes, when he laughs, it sounds unnervingly like yours, and I am left to wonder how come he had the laugh of a dead man.

He's smart and dedicated, and he commands our men as easily as you used to. He's made for it, just like you were, and he's ready to do whatever it takes to keep our family secure and sound.

He's not loud but there's a brashness to him, a quiet strength that fills me up with pride. It has been a while since anyone lived with me.

Would you understand if I told you that despite his cold demeanor, he's very lively ? His brain is always in turmoil, he's always two steps ahead of everybody else, going in and out of the house all day long.

I didn't realize I craved companionship until he skipped lunch one day and I had to track him down to the other end of the city – god only knows why fishes in his spare time when he told me he hated it – and drag him back home, giving him an earful afterward.

It fills me with happiness to hear someone else's footsteps – when he's not in the mood to spook me by silently creeping up on me – that's not one of the domestics. I enjoy our quiet evenings together : he's more like me about this, not as loud or boisterous as you. 

You'd love him as much as I do.

And Enji...

Her fingers were shaking.

I just wish you were here.

She put her pen down.

"Who are you writing to ?"

She looked up to her grandson, wearing his black Kevlar uniform with metal chest armor and arm guards.

There was a tantô strapped to his back and though it seemed obsolete in a world where you could shoot someone, he managed to make it relevant.

"Have I not told you that appearing without warning will give me a heart attack one day ?"

He smiled – his eyes crinkled.

"I'm counting on that"

He took two steps forward.

"I successfully completed the assignment", he said, his eyes resting on the folded letter.

"Witnesses ?"

"None. I framed the Revolutionary group as you asked me to. What's this ? Is it for Dad?"

Teka pursed her lips, hesitated to explain herself. Not even Enji was aware of this.

"It's a letter", she said. "To your grandfather"

Shoto's eyebrow twitched though he did not ask the obvious.

"I started writing them a few weeks after he died", she explained. "It felt- feels – like I'm talking to him. It helped me get closure"

It felt as if he were close to her, leaning over her shoulder when she wrote, and she pictured him smiling or fondly shaking his hands at her words.

She put it in a manila envelope and put it in her lowest drawer under Shoto's curious gaze, among a hundred other letters. It was nearly full, she'd soon need to make room in a third drawer.

She clasped her hands, looking back to Shoto.

"Now tell me precisely what happened"

*

"You are the one who leaked the hangar video, aren't you ?"

Nezu froze, hands on the steering wheel.

He slowly looked up to the rear-view mirror where he met two cold, icy eyes.

He would've never thought Enji Todoroki had the guts to come back to Tokyo now that he was number one public enemy – or rather, he'd put it at a 15% probability of it happening, with him getting caught at an 80% level depending on the presence of his son.

Nezu's eyes swept to the seat next to Enji, and he nearly expected Shoto to be there too, but he wasn't. That didn't mean he couldn't be somewhere close, from a vantage point where he could monitor them.

"You gave it to All for One, and All for One used it to destroy my son's public image"

"I didn't give it to All for One", Nezu mused while trying to spot a mop of red and white atop one of the surrounding buildings. "He just conveniently found it when it was needed"

Nezu's schemes had brought light on Shoto like it shouldn't have happened, the starting point of Endeavor's name being dragged in the mud and All for One's obsession with his son.

Surprisingly it had all come back to bite Nezu in the ass when All for One gouged out Aizawa's eyes.

He'd been really annoyed with himself after that.

"I won't ask retribution for what you did"

Nezu showed no outward reaction but internally he was sagging with relief, glad he wouldn't be turned into a barbecue.

"But in exchange, I want you to do something"

Nezu had studied him extensively – as he did anybody of interest he crossed paths with (or not) and knew him maybe even better than he knew himself.

"Let me guess : you plan to kill All for One and need my help to find him ?"

Enji's eyes narrowed, but he said nothing.

Nezu took the lead.

"You feel guilty for your son's death, and you think that if he'd never met All for One, he'd still be alive"

The vein popping on his forehead was enough of a warning to not push further.

This man could've single-handedly wiped Japan off the map and settled for a warning that had the government's officials shitting their pants. That's why, despite their boisterous claims, they hadn't put much effort into trying to find either of the Todoroki.

They'd thought the son was a monster, but his father was one in his own right : they couldn't handle two of them.

They'd hoped that by making them wanted criminals, it'd push them out of the country – but it hadn't. Not Enji, at least.

Nezu smiled, his little teeth glinting. Humans were so predictable.

"If you die, your son will murder us all"

Enji wasted no time denying it.

"Then make sure I do not die by telling me where to find a certain someone"

"Not All for One ?"

Nezu backpedaled his thought process.

"No, not All for One"

And they got to work, if only because Enji wouldn't leave until Nezu helped him, and denouncing him to the authorities would bring nothing but painful retribution.

*

A/N :

As of exactly half an hour ago I have posted the last chapter of this FF on my P@treon.

Yep, fist bumped the air and all that stuff.

Anyway. 

I won't go all sappy here because that's not the time though you'll get too your own little last author's note + a special chapter dedicated to what we want to see in the next FF (and also I'm searching for native english speakers that would be my bêta-readers, so think about it lol).

I just wanted to say I had a blast writing this FF even if it was hard in the end, but I'm proud I did it. 

Story ends chapter 269 + an epilogue and three bonuses sprinkled here and there in between Part 3's chapters.

I'm gonna take a nice, month long break now. 

Keep on commenting on the chapters everyone, I'll read everything when I come back.

Also wish you nice holidays for those of you that are on a winter break, and, as always,

See you in the next update.