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It was a normal day up until Fuyumi decided that she had had enough of Enji.
They were in a grocery store. Why, Shouto had absolutely no idea. He was just walking beside Fuyumi while Natsuo and their dad walked ahead. Fuyumi was grabbing things. Soup cans and the like. They had a list. Apparently, this was one of their little “family bonding adventures” that she wanted to try and do with their dad. Since he was oh so forgiving and nice and absolutely a decent person. Yes, Shouto could be very sarcastic when he wanted to be. And he wanted to be.
He wanted to be a lot of those things. One of those was being as far, far away from Enji as possible. Another was being a good brother. So, there he was. Trying to be them both at the same time. And since he couldn’t really be as far as he would have liked from his dad, being beside his sister was good enough.
Fuyumi was talking about one of her students. She had the kind of love in her voice that always came from when she spoke about the people she cared about. This particular student was Quirkless. A little girl, with jet black hair and the biggest, most wonder-filled eyes that Fuyumi had ever seen. She took everything in with the kind of curiosity a new soul would have. Someone who looked at a world that would ultimately tell her she was worthless, and saw something there that was worth her. Worth her time and attention. She was the kindest, most compassionate kid Fuyumi had ever had the privilege to teach.
And of course, because Enji was the living definition of a trash fire, he decided his ever-so-lovely opinion was wanted.
“Quirkless people are the weakest society has to offer. They’re useless.” He mused. Looking at him, Fuyumi smiled tightly. Of course, Enji wouldn’t see what was really going on. Natsuo and Shouto, on the other hand, knew perfectly well.
Fuyumi had murder in her eyes.
Turning to his pathetic excuse of a father, Shouto met Enji’s gaze. “All evidence actually points to the contrary. If anything,” Natsuo began coolly, “the Quirkless are more important than any Quirked person could ever be. If Quirks are getting stronger, then eventually there might be Quirk marriages to mitigate Quirks, not strengthen them.”
“It’s not like you would have anything to say against that,” Shouto added, staring Enji in the face. There was a camera sitting right above them. Eyes narrowing, Enji made a quick move. Reached to grab Shouto and hurt him. The three of them had seen it before. With Rei, with Touya, with Shouto. Already, Natsuo was moving forwards to try and act defense. Shouto froze to where he was standing, staring ahead in horror. His heart dropped to his feet. He’d meant what he had said, he just hadn’t been thinking.
“You’re going to regret that.” Enji spat viciously. Still reaching for Shouto, he lit flames along his fingers. It was a threat. A warning of what was to come.
A tomato soup can smashed into his face.
Quickly, Fuyumi shoved Shouto behind her. There was another soup can in her left hand and a third in her right. Staring her dad down, murder still sitting in her eyes, she coldly said, “If you take another step, I’m going to break your jaw with this soup can.” Enji stared at her. Moved to hurt her, too.
He managed to get his hand around her wrist before Fuyumi moved. Really, really quickly. Slamming one soup can into his jaw, she did the same with the other. Slammed her heel onto the top of his foot. Then, quickly, she turned. Snapping her elbow back, she smacked it into Enji’s stomach. Smacked him in the crotch with one hand, then rebounded the blow to drive her knuckles into his face, threw an arm around his neck to put him into a headlock, and then yote him across the floor. He skidded across the tiles and then placed Shouto and Natsuo behind her again. Dropping into a defense position, she held curled fists in front of her face, stared him down.
“What the heck was that?” Natsuo asked, holding onto Shouto’s shoulders. Already, they had some people sprinting up to see what was going on. Some of the employees. A manager. Still, Fuyumi had herself where she was. Had herself standing in the same, clearly defensive position. “Fuyumi?”
“What happened here?” The manager asked. Raising his head, Enji glanced between them and his kids. Opened his mouth.
“He attempted to attack my brother using his Quirk. I defended myself and my siblings under the impression that he was going to hurt us.” Fuyumi explained quickly. Still holding herself defensively between Shouto, Natsuo, and Enji, she continued in a calm voice, “If we need to contact the cops then we will be kept in a different room than one with him.”
The manager glanced down at Enji where he was on the floor. “Alright.”
+++
“Shouto!”
Midoriya sprinted over to Shouto, who simply stood there as Midoriya threw his arms around his friend, lifted him up, and spun him around in a circle. Shinsou, Iida, Uraraka, and Tsu hurried over as well, already laughing and smiling. Slowly, Fuyumi pushed herself out of the car. Looked over at the scene in front of her and smiled softly.
Awkwardly, Shouto patted Midoriya on the back once, twice, and then a third time. Then, Midoriya set him down. Held onto him. Shouto returned the hug after a second, squeezed him gently. Midoriya is a good friend. He knows what he’s doing, she thought to herself, still smiling. Her eyes darted over. There was a light sprinkling of rain, although she found she didn’t hate it as much as she used to. So, instead, she took a deep breath. Exhaled and watched Aizawa. There was a nod from the man. She returned it, while Shouto and his friends continued yelling. At first, Shouto was being quiet, softer, but Midoriya had this sort of…energy about him. He yelled, bounced up and down happily like Midoriya did. Already, things were changing.
And, ironically, it was all thanks to a soup can.
“That security footage of your dad has gone viral! Like the last one!” Midoriya said, jumping and holding onto Shouto’s hands.
“What? Really?” There was a frantic nod, and Midoriya pulled his phone out. Uraraka already had hers, though, was showing him.
Walking over, Fuyumi gently cleared her throat. Turning, Shouto met her gaze with his eyes shining. “Sorry, Shouto. I’m afraid I need to go to class already. But you’ll be alright, won’t you?”
“Oh, actually, can you sign this?” Shouto pulled a soup can from Uraraka’s backpack. She glanced over at it, blushed and laughed slightly. Fuyumi signed it, looked at her.
“Sell that. You’ll get some good money. Plus,” winking, she added, “You can always ask me for more.”
“Hey! Let’s go to class, soup kids.” Aizawa ordered. Snickering, Fuyumi watched as her little brother and his friends hurried up the steps to UA. Glanced to the side. In the shadows, she could see someone lingering. A tall young man with a mask pulled over his mouth and nose, sloppy concealer to hide the dark purple under his eyes. Still, no amount of makeup or dyed black hair could change those eyes. The bright turquoise she still recognized. Meeting his gaze, she smiled at him. His eyes scrunched up a bit as he smiled back, nodded once.
One day soon, she would get him to come to dinner.
It would be easier now that Enji was too embarrassed to show his face while his jaw was still broken from a soup can of all things.