—Cole POV—
“That was quick…”, Fuyumi remarked as I walked back into the room with Eri, “You were only gone five minutes, do I want to know what happened?”
“It’s a bit confusing to explain, but let us just say for me it’s been an hour or so.”, I chuckled as I took my seat again, “Apologies for the outburst earlier, I take the protection of my family very seriously. Any threats to their safety are met with fury and violence from me.”
—Several Moments Earlier—
Having Time Shifted back five minutes after I initially left the hospital, my first priority was retrieving Eri who was bawling her eyes out on the kitchen counter. When I got home, Malty and Melty were desperately trying to figure out how to calm her down. Malty worked extra hard to make her stop because she thought I would blame her for it. I was certain of this because the moment I stepped into the kitchen, the bitch fell to the floor and grabbed my pant legs begging for mercy.
Telling Malty that I was aware she didn’t cause Eri to cry, I thanked the two of them for trying to soothe her. Picking my daughter up in my arms, the poor girl was trembling violently as memories of her past trauma were fresh in her mind. Holding her tightly, I swore to her that no one would ever harm my beautiful, little girl. Knowing that she needed me to be by her side for the time being, I decided to take her with me to the Hospital.
Fuyumi’s family were all good people, well except for Enji, so I was certain they’d be understanding of the situation. Handing the coat I gave Yasaka to Malty, I told her to please wash it for me. Looking at the coat with a deflated expression I asked why she was acting that way.
“I have been doing laundry since this morning…I am exhausted!”, Malty protested.
“Since you tried to help Eri, I will allow you to take the night off. Wash it the day after tomorrow, all of us are going to the festival in my capital city together.”, I advised them, “Since you have been behaving well, I will give you permission to wander around the city tomorrow. To be clear, you are forbidden from using your Princess position to order people around. If you cause problems, I will throw you in jail like the rest of the miscreants.”
“Ugh…I understand…”, Malty sighed, “Thank you for the night off…”
Stumbling up to her room, Malty retired for the day and went to rest. Hearing her door close, Melty let out a giggle of joy for some reason. Asking her if going to the festival made her that happy, she shook her head no.
“While I am excited for the festival, that was my sister’s first genuine thank you in ages!”, Melty informed me, “Her therapy here is really working!!”
“Haha, I guess it is.”, I chuckled, “Anyways I am off to the hospital again, I will be back later tonight.”
—Current Time—
Seeing Eri clinging to my shirt tightly, Rei smiled at us and said we looked adorable together. Thanking her for the compliment, I admitted that I was proud to be the father of such a beautiful, smart young girl.
“This must be Eri, I have heard a lot about you from Fuyumi.”, Rei said with a kind smile, “I hope you are feeling better now that you are with your father.”
Looking at Rei for a moment in confusion, Eri looked at me with a curious expression. Fuyumi didn’t have photos of her mother in our bedroom so this was her first time meeting her future grandmother.
“Who is she?”, Eri asked me softly, “Why does she look like Momma Fuyumi?”
“Haha, she is Fuyumi’s mother.”, I chuckled as I stood up and walked over to Rei, “You can call her Grandma Rei…that is okay right?
Vigorously nodding her head, Rei was thrilled to be called grandma by Eri. Saying hello to her, Eri asked if she was sick because she was in the hospital. Having not explained anything to Kota or Eri, Fuyumi looked to her mother for how she wanted to explain the situation to her.
“I haven’t been feeling well for a while now, the doctors have me staying here to keep an eye on me.”, Rei explained to her, “Don’t worry though, what I have isn’t contagious so you have nothing to worry about.”
“Daddy, can’t you heal Grandma Rei?”, Eri inquired looking up at me, “We are family so we have to help each other when we are hurt.”
“Haha, I don’t think your father can heal my condition but you might be able to. Can you come and see me every now and then? Your smile is the best medicine for me.”, Rei praised her.
“Okay!!”, Eri promised, “Daddy, can I sit next to her?”
Setting her down, Eri crawled up on Rei’s bed and snuggled up with her. Turning her tablet back on, she immediately started showing her grandmother some of the family photos we had been taking. Since Rei was in the hospital, Eri took it upon herself to share some of our memories with her which really touched Rei’s heart.
“You have done a lot together with your big family, do you enjoy being a big sister?”, Rei asked her.
“Yes!!”, Eri proclaimed, “I get to play with my siblings every day, but…I don’t change their stinky diapers. That stuff is best left to my mommas and daddy!”
“Haha, it sounds like you have an amazing father and mothers watching over you.”, Rei stated.
“Hehe, they are the bestest parents in the world.”, Eri said, “I love my parents!!”
Tearing up with that compliment, Fuyumi was extremely happy Eri felt so strongly about us. Having gone through so many traumatic events in her past, Fuyumi thought she might only ever bond with me as her savior. Hearing that Eri loved all of her mothers, I could see how touched it made her feel as a woman and teacher. Giving her daughter to soak it in, Rei began speaking to me directly.
“Cole, I will admit that I wasn’t sure about you when Fuyumi came to me about things. Having to share a husband between multiple women is a very foreign idea to me, and frankly, I was against it at first.”, Rei admitted, “That said, now that I have had a chance to meet you in person, I have changed my mind about you. I can clearly see that you care deeply for your family, probably more than anyone else I have ever met. Please take care of my daughter, she has had a tough life dealing with her father’s high expectations and unreasonable actions.”
“I promise to cherish her for all of my days.”, I promised her, “She will have more love and affection that she will know what to do with. Thank you for giving us your blessing, I know for Fuyumi that it was critical we receive your blessing before moving forward. It is disappointing that we will likely never receive it from your asshole husband.”
Letting out a sigh of frustration, Rei apologized for her husband’s actions and acknowledged he was being unreasonable with me. Assuring me that deep down he did care about their children, she just wished he would show it more with his actions. Doubting what she was saying, I kept the comment to myself as I didn’t want to trash the man she still loved in front of her.
“Has he even gone to visit your eldest son yet?”, I innocently inquired, “Surely he has a lot to talk about with him.”
“Visit me?”, Natsuo remarked, “I still currently live at home with Shoto and our father. What are you talking about?”
“I am not referring to you, I am talking about Toya.”, I told him, “You know, the one that is currently locked up in Tartaros for his villainous actions? Has he really not told any of you about this?”
Looking at one another for confirmation, none of them knew anything about Toya still being alive. Since I was interested in pursuing Fuyumi, I had gone out of my way to keep him alive during the incident with All For One. He had been locked up in Tartaros for over a year and a half now, my assumption was that Fuyumi hadn’t gone to see him solely because of his heinous crimes against civilians.
“Cole, why didn’t you tell me he was alive!?”, Fuyumi shouted at me, “Had I known my older brother was alive, I would have told my family so we could have gone to see him.”
“I did not feel it was my place to tell you given the sensitive nature of the topic. Your Dad should have been notified by the Hero Association that he was alive when he was booked into the system.”, I answered her, “I thought this whole time you were all just upset with him because of the number of innocent people he killed.”
“...our brother Toya is alive..?”, Natsuo repeated aloud in disbelief.
“...all of you wait right here…”, Rei said with a hollow expression as she walked out of the room, “Your father owes all of us an explanation…”
Still suffering the trauma of losing her firstborn child, it was clear I had stepped on a landmine by bringing it up. Clearly I underestimate how much of an ass Enji was because I genuinely thought he was aware of this. When Dabi was being transported to Tartaros, I went out of my way to have Enji ride along with him so he’d find out that his eldest son was alive still. Either Enji had kept the information to himself…or he was busy chatting up reporters to hear about Dabi’s identity.
‘Still though…we get daily reports from the Hero Association on what villains were caught throughout the previous day. Dabi should have been flagged on his report.’, I thought, ‘Is he so full of himself that he doesn’t read it!?’
As I pondered that thought, we heard Enji’s voice coming toward the room. Hearing him complain to Rei about her pulling on his ear, she was having none of it at the moment as she was really upset with him. Making him shut the door behind them, the very first thing she did before speaking was smacking him across the face.
“Why didn’t you tell us Toya is alive!?”, Rei snapped as she stared into her husband’s eyes, “You know how much pain it caused our family when that accident took him from us! You have been keeping this information to yourself for over a year and a half now, does he still need to suffer your disdain?”
It took a moment for him to process the smack and words she used, but the second he did his demeanor completely changed. Switching from annoyed to disbelief, it appeared he was truly in the dark about it.
“Wait…Toya is alive!?”, Enji gasped in honest shock, “Where is he!? Where is our son!?”
Turning to me for answers, I let out an annoyed sigh as I looked at him. Pulling out my phone, I found the report with Dabi’s name on it and showed it to Enji. Reading the line where it had his son’s name, Toya Todoroki, Enji’s face froze over in horror.
“Do you not read the information that the Hero Association sends out to Pro Heroes after Villians are booked into the system!? They fingerprint, DNA sample, and snapshot every Villain that is handed over to law enforcement.”, I snapped in an irritated tone, “The After Action Report contains information such as known criminal associates, their real names, and any surviving immediate family members. We are supposed to use this information to track them down should they escape again…because many prisons cannot hold the power villains properly.”
“Haha…I never knew there was such a report, I left that stuff to my Sidekicks and Office Staff.”, Enji admitted with a nervous laugh, “Maybe I should rethink that policy…”
“How the hell did you become Rank 2 here in Japan!? Using the Action Report is basic Pro Heroing 101, weren’t you ever concerned about an escaped Villain potentially attacking your Agency out of revenge?! What about your staff!?”, I yelled in frustration, “Your eldest son, the one you used and abused, has been rotting away in Tartaros for over a year and a half. This isn’t a joke dipshit, the reason he’s screwed up in the head is because of you. You made him believe he was something special…right up till you realized he didn’t have the right balance of his parent's Quirks. Once you realized that, you did a 180 and turned your back on him making him feel like a failure!”
“Cole, please stop!”, Fuyumi pleaded not wanting a fight to break out.
“No, he needs to hear this.”, I replied in a firm tone, “I looked into the situation, after that accident, he got his act together and actually came back home wanting to make amends. Instead of a remorseful father, he found you putting Shoto through the same hell you put him through. Unlike Toya though, you were happy with Shoto’s Quirk mixture and gave him all the praise he once had. Can you even begin to understand the mental trauma you gave him!? You used a father’s love and affection to manipulate your children to be better than you. When they couldn’t live up to it, you emotionally abandoned them!!”
Opening his mouth to speak, Enji quickly closed it again unable to refute my words. Knowing what I said was 100% accurate, he hung his head low as what he’d done finally hit home.
—Cole POV—
“That was quick…”, Fuyumi remarked as I walked back into the room with Eri, “You were only gone five minutes, do I want to know what happened?”
“It’s a bit confusing to explain, but let us just say for me it’s been an hour or so.”, I chuckled as I took my seat again, “Apologies for the outburst earlier, I take the protection of my family very seriously. Any threats to their safety are met with fury and violence from me.”
—Several Moments Earlier—
Having Time Shifted back five minutes after I initially left the hospital, my first priority was retrieving Eri who was bawling her eyes out on the kitchen counter. When I got home, Malty and Melty were desperately trying to figure out how to calm her down. Malty worked extra hard to make her stop because she thought I would blame her for it. I was certain of this because the moment I stepped into the kitchen, the bitch fell to the floor and grabbed my pant legs begging for mercy.
Telling Malty that I was aware she didn’t cause Eri to cry, I thanked the two of them for trying to soothe her. Picking my daughter up in my arms, the poor girl was trembling violently as memories of her past trauma were fresh in her mind. Holding her tightly, I swore to her that no one would ever harm my beautiful, little girl. Knowing that she needed me to be by her side for the time being, I decided to take her with me to the Hospital.
Fuyumi’s family were all good people, well except for Enji, so I was certain they’d be understanding of the situation. Handing the coat I gave Yasaka to Malty, I told her to please wash it for me. Looking at the coat with a deflated expression I asked why she was acting that way.
“I have been doing laundry since this morning…I am exhausted!”, Malty protested.
“Since you tried to help Eri, I will allow you to take the night off. Wash it the day after tomorrow, all of us are going to the festival in my capital city together.”, I advised them, “Since you have been behaving well, I will give you permission to wander around the city tomorrow. To be clear, you are forbidden from using your Princess position to order people around. If you cause problems, I will throw you in jail like the rest of the miscreants.”
“Ugh…I understand…”, Malty sighed, “Thank you for the night off…”
Stumbling up to her room, Malty retired for the day and went to rest. Hearing her door close, Melty let out a giggle of joy for some reason. Asking her if going to the festival made her that happy, she shook her head no.
“While I am excited for the festival, that was my sister’s first genuine thank you in ages!”, Melty informed me, “Her therapy here is really working!!”
“Haha, I guess it is.”, I chuckled, “Anyways I am off to the hospital again, I will be back later tonight.”
—Current Time—
Seeing Eri clinging to my shirt tightly, Rei smiled at us and said we looked adorable together. Thanking her for the compliment, I admitted that I was proud to be the father of such a beautiful, smart young girl.
“This must be Eri, I have heard a lot about you from Fuyumi.”, Rei said with a kind smile, “I hope you are feeling better now that you are with your father.”
Looking at Rei for a moment in confusion, Eri looked at me with a curious expression. Fuyumi didn’t have photos of her mother in our bedroom so this was her first time meeting her future grandmother.
“Who is she?”, Eri asked me softly, “Why does she look like Momma Fuyumi?”
“Haha, she is Fuyumi’s mother.”, I chuckled as I stood up and walked over to Rei, “You can call her Grandma Rei…that is okay right?
Vigorously nodding her head, Rei was thrilled to be called grandma by Eri. Saying hello to her, Eri asked if she was sick because she was in the hospital. Having not explained anything to Kota or Eri, Fuyumi looked to her mother for how she wanted to explain the situation to her.
“I haven’t been feeling well for a while now, the doctors have me staying here to keep an eye on me.”, Rei explained to her, “Don’t worry though, what I have isn’t contagious so you have nothing to worry about.”
“Daddy, can’t you heal Grandma Rei?”, Eri inquired looking up at me, “We are family so we have to help each other when we are hurt.”
“Haha, I don’t think your father can heal my condition but you might be able to. Can you come and see me every now and then? Your smile is the best medicine for me.”, Rei praised her.
“Okay!!”, Eri promised, “Daddy, can I sit next to her?”
Setting her down, Eri crawled up on Rei’s bed and snuggled up with her. Turning her tablet back on, she immediately started showing her grandmother some of the family photos we had been taking. Since Rei was in the hospital, Eri took it upon herself to share some of our memories with her which really touched Rei’s heart.
“You have done a lot together with your big family, do you enjoy being a big sister?”, Rei asked her.
“Yes!!”, Eri proclaimed, “I get to play with my siblings every day, but…I don’t change their stinky diapers. That stuff is best left to my mommas and daddy!”
“Haha, it sounds like you have an amazing father and mothers watching over you.”, Rei stated.
“Hehe, they are the bestest parents in the world.”, Eri said, “I love my parents!!”
Tearing up with that compliment, Fuyumi was extremely happy Eri felt so strongly about us. Having gone through so many traumatic events in her past, Fuyumi thought she might only ever bond with me as her savior. Hearing that Eri loved all of her mothers, I could see how touched it made her feel as a woman and teacher. Giving her daughter to soak it in, Rei began speaking to me directly.
“Cole, I will admit that I wasn’t sure about you when Fuyumi came to me about things. Having to share a husband between multiple women is a very foreign idea to me, and frankly, I was against it at first.”, Rei admitted, “That said, now that I have had a chance to meet you in person, I have changed my mind about you. I can clearly see that you care deeply for your family, probably more than anyone else I have ever met. Please take care of my daughter, she has had a tough life dealing with her father’s high expectations and unreasonable actions.”
“I promise to cherish her for all of my days.”, I promised her, “She will have more love and affection that she will know what to do with. Thank you for giving us your blessing, I know for Fuyumi that it was critical we receive your blessing before moving forward. It is disappointing that we will likely never receive it from your asshole husband.”
Letting out a sigh of frustration, Rei apologized for her husband’s actions and acknowledged he was being unreasonable with me. Assuring me that deep down he did care about their children, she just wished he would show it more with his actions. Doubting what she was saying, I kept the comment to myself as I didn’t want to trash the man she still loved in front of her.
“Has he even gone to visit your eldest son yet?”, I innocently inquired, “Surely he has a lot to talk about with him.”
“Visit me?”, Natsuo remarked, “I still currently live at home with Shoto and our father. What are you talking about?”
“I am not referring to you, I am talking about Toya.”, I told him, “You know, the one that is currently locked up in Tartaros for his villainous actions? Has he really not told any of you about this?”
Looking at one another for confirmation, none of them knew anything about Toya still being alive. Since I was interested in pursuing Fuyumi, I had gone out of my way to keep him alive during the incident with All For One. He had been locked up in Tartaros for over a year and a half now, my assumption was that Fuyumi hadn’t gone to see him solely because of his heinous crimes against civilians.
“Cole, why didn’t you tell me he was alive!?”, Fuyumi shouted at me, “Had I known my older brother was alive, I would have told my family so we could have gone to see him.”
“I did not feel it was my place to tell you given the sensitive nature of the topic. Your Dad should have been notified by the Hero Association that he was alive when he was booked into the system.”, I answered her, “I thought this whole time you were all just upset with him because of the number of innocent people he killed.”
“...our brother Toya is alive..?”, Natsuo repeated aloud in disbelief.
“...all of you wait right here…”, Rei said with a hollow expression as she walked out of the room, “Your father owes all of us an explanation…”
Still suffering the trauma of losing her firstborn child, it was clear I had stepped on a landmine by bringing it up. Clearly I underestimate how much of an ass Enji was because I genuinely thought he was aware of this. When Dabi was being transported to Tartaros, I went out of my way to have Enji ride along with him so he’d find out that his eldest son was alive still. Either Enji had kept the information to himself…or he was busy chatting up reporters to hear about Dabi’s identity.
‘Still though…we get daily reports from the Hero Association on what villains were caught throughout the previous day. Dabi should have been flagged on his report.’, I thought, ‘Is he so full of himself that he doesn’t read it!?’
As I pondered that thought, we heard Enji’s voice coming toward the room. Hearing him complain to Rei about her pulling on his ear, she was having none of it at the moment as she was really upset with him. Making him shut the door behind them, the very first thing she did before speaking was smacking him across the face.
“Why didn’t you tell us Toya is alive!?”, Rei snapped as she stared into her husband’s eyes, “You know how much pain it caused our family when that accident took him from us! You have been keeping this information to yourself for over a year and a half now, does he still need to suffer your disdain?”
It took a moment for him to process the smack and words she used, but the second he did his demeanor completely changed. Switching from annoyed to disbelief, it appeared he was truly in the dark about it.
“Wait…Toya is alive!?”, Enji gasped in honest shock, “Where is he!? Where is our son!?”
Turning to me for answers, I let out an annoyed sigh as I looked at him. Pulling out my phone, I found the report with Dabi’s name on it and showed it to Enji. Reading the line where it had his son’s name, Toya Todoroki, Enji’s face froze over in horror.
“Do you not read the information that the Hero Association sends out to Pro Heroes after Villians are booked into the system!? They fingerprint, DNA sample, and snapshot every Villain that is handed over to law enforcement.”, I snapped in an irritated tone, “The After Action Report contains information such as known criminal associates, their real names, and any surviving immediate family members. We are supposed to use this information to track them down should they escape again…because many prisons cannot hold the power villains properly.”
“Haha…I never knew there was such a report, I left that stuff to my Sidekicks and Office Staff.”, Enji admitted with a nervous laugh, “Maybe I should rethink that policy…”
“How the hell did you become Rank 2 here in Japan!? Using the Action Report is basic Pro Heroing 101, weren’t you ever concerned about an escaped Villain potentially attacking your Agency out of revenge?! What about your staff!?”, I yelled in frustration, “Your eldest son, the one you used and abused, has been rotting away in Tartaros for over a year and a half. This isn’t a joke dipshit, the reason he’s screwed up in the head is because of you. You made him believe he was something special…right up till you realized he didn’t have the right balance of his parent's Quirks. Once you realized that, you did a 180 and turned your back on him making him feel like a failure!”
“Cole, please stop!”, Fuyumi pleaded not wanting a fight to break out.
“No, he needs to hear this.”, I replied in a firm tone, “I looked into the situation, after that accident, he got his act together and actually came back home wanting to make amends. Instead of a remorseful father, he found you putting Shoto through the same hell you put him through. Unlike Toya though, you were happy with Shoto’s Quirk mixture and gave him all the praise he once had. Can you even begin to understand the mental trauma you gave him!? You used a father’s love and affection to manipulate your children to be better than you. When they couldn’t live up to it, you emotionally abandoned them!!”
Opening his mouth to speak, Enji quickly closed it again unable to refute my words. Knowing what I said was 100% accurate, he hung his head low as what he’d done finally hit home.
