"She asked me to tell you that she's sorry."
It is another couple of days when Shoto Todoroki is back standing in front of the one-way glass, staring at a downcast-looking girl from the other side. He perks up at his teacher's words, his expression as impassive as always.
"I thought you said she doesn't talk," he comments, fiddling with a paper bag in his hold.
Did he just go shopping? Aizawa ponders, taking a short while before he replies to him. "Well, a lot has happened."
Todoroki doesn't like it when Aizawa glosses over the details, but he listens anyway. "Have you found out why she freaked out?" Todoroki glances at Aizawa, curiosity surfacing in his gaze.
"It's the right part of your hair, Todoroki."
"She's afraid of white hair?" Todoroki frowns, baffled.
"Ugh, let me explain from the beginning," Aizawa grumbles. "Have you ever heard of the Shirayuki?"
The Shirayuki, the name sounds a little familiar in Todoroki's head. Did his father mention it to him before? However, he isn't sure, so he shakes his head.
"The Shirayuki call themselves a clan," Aizawa explains. "But, to me, they are more like a commune. They live by their own rules, in their own land, with their own resources. The government lets them be, as long as they don't break the law.
"As their name says, almost all of the Shirayuki have a snow-type quirk. They have this notion of preserving their quirk purity. Todoroki, I'm sure you understand how they do it."
"Quirk marriages," Todoroki mutters in a low voice.
Aizawa nods to confirm his answer. "There's a rumor that the first ideas of quirk marriages came from them... within themselves."
"Is the reason you regard them as a commune..." Todoroki puts one hand on his own chin, thinking deeply. "... because they procreate with each other?"
"Yeah, they do incest," Aizawa replies, as straightforward as one can be. "This is the first time I've ever heard that one of them married an outsider."
There is a short pause before Todoroki manages to find his voice again. "Are you... insinuating that the girl is Hanakiri's secret love child with a Shirayuki?"
"The police have confirmed so." Aizawa turns his head to Todoroki, his expression stern. "Todoroki, we believe she's terrified of you, because the Shirayuki have white hair too. She has been conditioned to associate white hair with them."
Aizawa's answer puts Todoroki in a stupor. Somehow, his half-and-half appearance keeps causing troubles. In the past, his mother used to hate his left side. Now, this girl freaks out at the sight of his right side.
He knows it isn't his fault. He knows it isn't even him they were afraid of. But, when will he get accepted just the way he is? When will his appearance stop causing pain for the people who see him?
Aizawa observes his student carefully. His dark eyes do not miss the glum look in Todoroki's grey-cyan ones.
"Stop looking down," Aizawa says in an offhand manner. "You're here today because she personally requested to meet you."
Todoroki's grey-cyan eyes gleam with surprise at his words. "But, you said she's afraid of my white hair."
"I don't know. Ask her yourself." Aizawa shrugs his shoulders carelessly, then points his thumb to the glass. "Look, she's waiting for your visit."
Behind the glass, Todoroki sees her green eyes glance nervously at a wall clock for a few times. She even ties her hair up into a ponytail, leaving some loose black strands around her face.
"What do you think, Todoroki?" Aizawa flicks his dark eyes back to his student. "Do you want to give it a try?"
"Good morning. May I sit here?"
When her ears catch a deep, rumbling voice that she heard during her graze with death, she jolts out of her musing.
"Of— Of course!" she squeaks out in a small voice. "Good morning."
Her gaze shyly flits to her visitor's way. A boy around her age is standing in front of her. His grey-cyan eyes glisten beautifully under the sunlight from the window. His face features are elegantly chiseled, some of the left part is covered in a reddish scar. His hair color is split evenly in two, crimson on the left side and white on the right side.
White hair, she cowers by reflex at the sight of his white hair. Even though now she knows he's not a Shirayuki, it doesn't stop chills from crawling on her skin. She turns her head away from him, trying to will down her irrational fear.
"I'm sorry for being so afraid of your white hair—"
"It's fine," he cuts in, trying to dismiss it.
"No, it's not fine at all. It's offensive to you, and— and… you have tried so hard to save my life, but I jumped out the window at the sight of your hair. I— I even hurt you last time. And, I can't even look at you in the eye right now. I'm really sorry... I didn't mean to insult you. I'm sorry I didn't know..."
"No, really, it's fine." A pang of regret crosses his eyes for a millisecond. "Last time, my... actions were not with the best intention too."
"..."
When she doesn't answer, he attempts to backtrack. "About my white hair, you'll get used to it if I come here often."
Todoroki expects her to respond in a positive way, like normal people will. Instead, the gleam in her green eyes flickers in hesitation. There is an awkward pause hanging between them before she finally speaks up again.
"Did the police ask you to do this? Is that why you're here?"
Somehow, Todoroki feels his heart break a little at her small, quivering voice. Why does a girl his age have such a tremendous need to protect herself? Is the presence of so many heroes in Japan not enough to make her feel safe?
"Yes, I am here to ask you questions," Todoroki states bluntly and her shoulders droop. "But, I also want to be your friend."
She lifts her head in astonishment at the last sentence. For a moment, her gaze flicks back to his face, gauging his honesty.
"Are you sure?" she fidgets uncertainly, trying not to look at his white hair. "I mean, you must've been informed about my... mother."
"Are you a villain?" His grey-cyan eyes implore her expression with a searching look.
The question rings with echoes in her mind. Ever since she could remember, the Shirayuki have always treated her as if she was going to go berserk. Everyone was on their toes around her as if she would follow her mother's footsteps.
No one even cared about her opinion on the matter. It's as if her path has been set in stone just because Hanakiri is her biological mother.
Sometimes, it crosses her mind if they were right, if she someday would stray to the villain path. Quirk is an integral part of a person, and in more ways than one, with her Praying Mantis quirk, she is a predator. A predator like Hanakiri.
With forelegs that can tear flesh and limbs easily, her quirk is too cruel to be a normal civilian or even a hero. It makes sense why people are scared of her. She, too, is afraid of herself.
"I— I don't know."
Todoroki almost doesn't catch her whisper. She pulls her knees to her chest, burying her face between them. "Have you done criminal activities?" Todoroki asks again.
This feels awkward for him, because he isn't used being the one keeping the conversation going. Usually, he is on the passive side, with other people throwing random topics at him. Nevertheless, he tries to be as gentle as he can.
The girl shakes her head quickly. Todoroki sighs in something akin to relief.
"A villain is a person or an organization who breaks the law or threatens to destroy the society. If you have never done anything outside the law, then you're not a villain. Why are you hesitating?"
There was a time where her mother was not a villain. Her memories about her mother are blurry because she was so, so young back then, but she remembers that how her mother's green eyes lit up brightly every time she smiled.
How could someone so gentle like her turn so brutal? If this keeps going on… am I going to be like her?
"My mother… was normal before," she exhales shakily, "before— before everything turned out this way. If she flipped like that… there's no saying I wouldn't too. And everyone believes I'm— I'll be a villain," she exhales shakily. "How can I say otherwise?"
"By proving otherwise," Todoroki answers in a flat tone without missing a beat.
"You don't understand," she mumbles. "It's not that simple."
"You're right, I don't understand." he narrows his eyes. "Because, all I see right now is a girl who almost died to save a kid she didn't know. The rest is still undecided unless we moved forward to the future."
"I failed," she denies, her tone bitter and hollow.
"Not completely. The police managed to identify and track down the kidnappers thanks to you. There was a small amount of their blood under your nails."
"What?" Surprise rings in her voice.
"The child is already back at his home, safe and sound," Todoroki continues. "You might have failed at preventing the kidnapping, but the child was found because of your intervention."
"... Really?" she breathes out in disbelief. The past days she has spent in regret, were they for nothing? Is the child really safe?
"You've saved a child," he confirms with a firm voice.
Todoroki barely catches her soft murmur as she gazes at her own hands. "I'm so glad."
Has she been brooding about it ever since? They should have told her earlier to ease her mind.