#Himura family feels

[linagram]

To each of the prisoners: Define love.

To each of the guards: Define justice.

OH THIS ONE IS INTERESTING...

Akio: Do I have to answer this.. Why would you ask me that anyway? Is this because of the answer I gave during my second interrogation?.. Fine. I think love is.. Always staying by your lover's side. Never leaving them. Never betraying them. Always being honest with them. Being so loyal to them, you could die for them. Um.. Haha, so he never did any of those things..

Aimi: Hmm, I've never had a significant other, so it's hard to say, haha.. Well, I think love is when you two feel safe around each other! It's when you can trust your partner with anything and know that they won't break their promise and they won't leave you no matter what you do. And no matter what, they will never judge you. Ah, I think you can say the same about platonic and familial love too!

Shun: U-um.. Let's see.. Well, it's obviously going on dates and.. Uh.. Doing all the romantic stuff, y-you know?.. D-do I have to tell you all the details?.. Y-you're looking at me like I don't know anything about romance. And I do know about it, please believe me! I mean, I did have a girlfriend.. A-anyway, love is something that I will never be complete without. I need to be loved. It's like.. If I'm loved, it means someone in this world appreciates me, right? They would probably be sad if something happened to me..

Naomi: Um.. I never was that interested in romance, so I can't really- Hm? It doesn't have to be romantic? I see.. Well, I can't even tell you that much about platonic love.. I'm sorry, I'm really boring when it comes to that, haha. But if I had to think about it more.. Maybe it's when others don't expect anything from you? You can be anything you want to be and you're still wanted and appreciated.. It sounds nice when I think about it, actually.

Kei: Heyyyy, didn't you say that someone like me can't know anything about love? Haha, well, as I've said before, I believe that pain and love can't be separated. Why? The thing is, if someone puts you through so much pain every single day, but you still choose to stay with them and don't even think about leaving them.. Yeah, that's love to me. And if you truly love someone, you'll be okay with them hurting you in some way. That's what Mom used to say. And I love her. You love her too, Eiji. You've never even tried to run away, after all.

Eiko: You're probably not gonna believe me, but I actually wasn't interested in love at all until I.. well, met that guy. I thought it was just a stupid waste of time, just like friendship and all that stuff. But hey, of course I felt lonely. My relationships never had any meaning, the only somewhat deep relationship I have is the one with my dad. So, if you were to ask me about love.. I think love is when your relationship with someone has some kind of meaning. Maybe it makes you happy. Maybe it wants you to keep living. Maybe it makes you feel like you have some kind of purpose. You just know that if something happened to that person, you would feel like your life has become incomplete. That's love to me.

Asahi: E-eh?.. I know that I'm more mature than other kids, but like.. Ugh, fine. So, uh, I think love is when someone gives you everything you could ever want from them. N-no, I'm not just talking about food and toys and that stuff! Though that's also important, of course.. But like.. I-if you asked them for a hug, they'd be okay with it.. And if you asked them to spend time with you, they'd still agree even if they're busy.. A-anyway, I know I'll be popular when I grow up, but right now I don't care about all that. I just wanna have fun and I don't want to think about anything.. Uh, "serious".

Yurika: Your question is simple, so my answer will be the same. It's what I felt for my boss. S-she wasn't just a manager to me. She actually gave me a reason to live. She showed me that I still have worth even if I'm not that smart, not that hardworking and not that productive. She's not like my parents at all and those guys are rich, but still wanted me to work! H-huh?.. "Did you see your manager as your lover or your mother figure?".. Uh.. B-both?

Riku: Let me think.. Well, there's many different types of love, you know? I don't really know which one you want me to talk about.. Oh, so like, love in general? Um.. For some reason, it's still hard for me to think of an answer.. Maybe something like, even if you get sad or angry sometimes, they still understand you and still willing to listen to you? Like, they won't go "Come on, cheer up already!" Oh, also they respect your privacy and personal space, that one's important. Even if I love them, I don't want them to call me at 3 am and start telling me the tragic story of how their cat died when they were eight, thank you very much.. Y-yeah, that did happen to me once.

Reina: I don't know much about it, so I'm afraid my answer won't be that interesting. But maybe.. it's when someone still wants to be with you even if they've seen your worst qualities? No, I don't mean any of that "But I still find them beautiful" kind of stuff. That's actually kinda concerning. It's like, they won't leave you if they see you fighting with someone and yelling at them, but they also won't tell you that you were in the right for acting like that, if you really were in the wrong.

Eiji: It's when all sinners get what they deserve. They get the punishments that fit their sins and they have no choice but to accept it, meanwhile the innocent ones get to finally live a peaceful life. And before you ask me, no, nobody in this prison is innocent except me and Guard 002.

Miki: I'm not really as passionate about it as Eiji-san, but.. I think it's when people who did something bad without any reason and don't feel any remorse get.. I-I don't want to say "punished", but.. Basically, they're not able to do anything to the innocent people anymore. I want to believe that everyone in this prison is innocent and everyone had their own reasons and if it wasn't for those reasons, they would never kill anyone.. But I'm not so sure anymore. So if someone in this prison really is guilty.. I guess I'll have to make sure they don't hurt the innocent.

Hiyuu: I think it's when all people are treated as equals. Even if someone is guilty, I won't treat them like a villain. I will punish them, because that's my job as a guard, but it doesn't mean I genuinely want their life to get worse and it doesn't mean I want them to die. I just want them to see what will happen if they continue to act this way. Pain is the worst thing that could ever happen to anyone, so I believe that even if that someone really did something bad, they should be treated with respect if they're in pain. So you can trust me, my punishments won't be that bad, haha.

[andypantsx3]

thinking about how the inhuman beauty of the himura genes is so present in the todoroki children that you sometimes feel like you're surrounded by the twilight vampires at family dinners

[kharmii]

A collection of messed up family dynamics. The translations were confusing on these first ones, so I'm going to attempt to give a summary of what I believe is going on. Comic starts out showing why Dabi and Geten complement each other well. Child Dabi (Touya) is burned by his own quirk, so his mother with an ice quirk uses it to calm the pain. Meanwhile, Child Geten sees ReDestro get burned, so he used his ice quirk to comfort him as well.

Side note: Some fans head canon Geten got his quirk awakening by seeing ReDestro get burned. That's an interesting idea. It would mean ReDestro had him before he knew the full extent of his power. He may have just known the potential through the Himura name and therefore he still saw him as a powerful pawn.

Anyway, Geten, -while asleep dreaming- grabs Dabi's hand while reliving the memory of using his ice quirk on ReDestro's burns. This makes Dabi relive the memory of his mother using her ice quirk on his burns. Geten tears up in his sleep from the memory. Dabi wipes his tears, then dabs blood from his ripped stitches onto Getens mouth (Geten exclaims 'What!?') and they kiss.

I'm not sure if Geten wakes up disgusted, or if he is still asleep and his dream turns bad. He yells "YOU!!" in a way like he's full of disdain and also says, "This must be someone's ploy!"

Dabi replies, "Don't blame others."

Geten: What a place...Shhh...

Dabi: You came here half asleep, right?

Geten: I do not remember!!! Lion tongue! (reference to his mouth being spikey, unpleasant).

Dabi: ...Ice Yarrow...(same, yarrow has thorny stems) The inside of your mouth is also cold.

Maybe I'm just too hot...Yeah.

Dabi gets drowsy from the cold and says, "The cold one....I don't hate it.................

Geten kicks him in the head and says, "Do not sleep!!! Wow. I hate it!

Once again, Dabi has memories of being soothed by his mother's ice quirk while at the same time, Geten (who looks similar to Dabi's mother) has memories of using his ice to sooth someone's pain.

Geten says, "The hot one too. I hate it."

That's when the reader realizes that he was acting out in frustration over Dabi being in pain just by existing.

Meanwhile, Dabi is feeling blissful and relaxed from being chilled so much. He tells Geten, "In that case, please do it just right."

They are good again.

Next collection is a sad 2-part comic showing Child Geten being looked after by ReDestro. Geten can't sleep one night -and feels sick at heart- so he comes to sleep in ReDestro's room. ReDestro says, "Can't you sleep, Apocrypha?" then tells him not to act like a dog.

Geten bringing a dog bed into ReDestro's room then getting told not to call him 'Dad' while still being comforted and cuddled represents to me that he's being raised as a beloved slave, not a son. This way, ReDestro can brainwash him into being constantly agreeable and a comfort to him (as opposed to how biological children can be infuriating and total pains sometimes), and he can be emotionally distant enough to put Geten's life in danger during quirk training while not having to fear for him the way he would a real son.

Goofy comic where Geten collects Meta Liberation War books, and ReDestro tells him he should distribute them to other people to spread the word. Geten doesn't want to share. Since the text is small, I'll post a translation here:

GETEN'S COLLECTION

Curious: We have finally surpassed 600,000 copies!

Re-Destro: Wonderful.

Expressions that are easy to understand for young people...

However, I have always been concerned about the changes in the wording of the original text.

It's important, but it's still a shame

I would like you to consider making a complete reproduction version when you reach the million copies mark. It's my dream.

Geten: million………ReDestro... I can buy 50 more books this month. *looks sharp* Your dream is mine!!!

ReDestro: It's apocryphal to buy wastefully anymore...stop and distribute the stock for missionary work.

Geten: I won't give it to anyone!!! Your dream is my treasure!!! Wasting it!?!?!?

(My pocket money has decreased)

Art credit: yaoi, hrak (yaoi), My Hero Academia BL 3000+ bookmarks / （※注キャプション）荼ホ＋外荼外の今までに描いた漫画 - pixiv

[quirkwizard]

Dr. Kuse Files: Toya Todoroki

Patient: Todoroki, Toya

Parent Quirks: Father: Emitter that produces large quantities of fire. Mother: Emitter that produces large quantities of ice.

Potential Names: Burnout, Great Fire, Flame On

Awakening Incident: The patient ignited in a moment of excited, seeing his father be awarded a medal on TV.

Observations: Subject can produce flames from any point on his body. What I was going to write off as a direct inheritance of his father, see the Todoroki, Enji file for details, there are some differences. The flames are a far more condensed and brighter version of his father's. Subject lacks much control over the flames, being far more wild when using his power in the Heat Testing Room, though this may be due to his age. I can say, however, that he put quite a strain on the room with his fire. I could still feel the heat through the layers of protection. 

What is most disturbing are the burns produced while the Quirk is being used. The extreme effect on the body implies a deviation, but similarities to the father's Quirk routes out any chance of that. What seems to be the case is that a trait of that mother's Quirk was implemented, hybridizing into what they are now. I have heard a few examples of this in my studies, but they were before my time. Back in the earlier days of Quirks when people would try to pair up in the pursuit of having stronger powers, but they had disastrous results.

This is what is likely to cause the fire to be so strong. With that resistance to heat came a kind of filter with the fire's power. For all their power, Quirks need those built-in protections and precautions to keep the body safe, similar to the limits put on our own muscles. Without them, the user's body runs rampant and exerts itself. It is like the subject's body doesn't know how to hold itself back, going at full force with even minor uses. This, in tandem with the lack of protection and control, makes it far too dangerous to use.

Recommendations: -Cease any and all Quirk usage. Until a method to replace or support his lack of proper is discovered, it will only be a threat to himself or others. -Fire suppressants and medical supplies should be in the house hold to help treat any burns in case of flare ups. I'll give you the number of a burn specialist. -Child counseling is advised. Subject seems highly distraught at the idea of his Quirk being unusable. I'll add the damages from that flare up to the bill. -Send me the medical history and of the Todoroki and Himura family. Perhaps there is some genetic flaw in either family's side that can give use a better understanding.

[codenamesazanka]

Since it's obvious that deku is going to save shigaraki and it's very unlikely that Shigaraki's going to die: what are your hopes for the ending? the main theories I have seen are imprisoned (which? Doesn't seem that likely) or being adopted by all might and becoming a pro hero (which seems more likely? But I'd rather have the hero system not survive the manga)

Well, that's sort of two separate things: my hopes for the ending vs what will probably happen. 

What I hope for is Shigaraki and the League pulling a karma houdini and running off into the sunset, never to get caught or serve time or pay for their crimes. That’s not to say they don't change - they stop being Villains out to destroy society, they're genuinely remorseful for the damage they've done, they make it up with self-assigned community service (vigilantism) for the rest of their lives. They run an orphanage that takes in the abandoned, the abused, the abnormal, and raise hundreds of children to be healthy, happy adults. Something like that. 

I hope for this, because the series has not convinced me that much of anything has changed or will change so that what the League went through won't happen again, that the various failures of Hero Society will be corrected, that Heroes are doing anything substantial to prevent new Villains. A few Heroes here and there have finally approached a Villain and acknowledged that they're human and they have been wronged in some way - but they have not addressed at all the root causes. 

The manga seems to believe that if only these Villains had been lucky enough to meet the one person who could've convinced them to endure the abuses, to not lash out, things would've been fine. If only Enji had gone to meet Touya and apologize - never mind the Hero ranking system that contributed to Enji’s toxic mindset, or the existence of the Himura clan who enabled a quirk marriage because they hated heteromorphs so much they would rather inbreed. If only Toga had met Ochako when she was younger - then she could've braved through quirk counseling and her parents emotionally abusing her. If only heteromorphs could've focused on good memories and be shining model minorities instead of being resentful - that’ll get those bigots who commit hate crimes against children to feel ashamed!

At the rate this is going, Deku vs Shigaraki will probably be something like this: If only there was a Deku-like person who was on the streets that day that Tenko was walking - then Tenko wouldn't have become justifiably resentful of the hundreds of other people who did ignore an injured five-year-old. If only he had a Deku-like friend who had magically appeared in the yard that night - then Tenko could've swallowed down his tears and smiled away the pain of his father’s abuse and family’s neglect.

If only a Deku-like Hero could’ve saved Tenko instead of All For One, then everything would’ve turned out okay - because it was AFO who entirely manufactured and introduced to Tenko the foreign, dangerous element of anger. It’s not as if being an orphan with a scary face (Jin), being known as the kid who killed his family/associated with having done something bad despite it being an accident (Gentle), having a strong quirk that people might fear (Toga), the possibility of being placed again in an dysfunctional/abusive home (Touya), the possibility of experiencing bullying because of all these things that make him stick out (Spinner, La Brava), and just having a lifelong tendency to empathize with and gravitate towards outcasts might just give him reasons to get frustrated and lash out at injustice still, even after his trauma was properly handled.

(Perhaps it’ll turn out that AFO gave Tenko the Decay quirk. How evil! We can thus blame everything on AFO and not have to examine the fact that, hey, regardless of how the quirk manifested, it exists and will affect the user’s life largely due to public perceptions of them and their quirk and whether they manage to behave in a way acceptable and in line with how people think someone with such a quirk should behave.) 

It's true that sometimes, all it takes is the influence of one person, of a single act of kindness to change things. A single Hero to reach out and save someone in need. But is that not already the status quo in the story? We've got hundreds of Heroes patrolling the streets, ready to save someone; hundreds more students about to join them. We got one super-superman who spent 40 years pushing himself to his limits trying to be everywhere. All these individuals, all these acts of rescues, and still people had fallen through the cracks - which was also where the kindness stops.

What the story suggests is that Heroes should also reach through the cracks and help the fallen. That's a good start! Know what would be better? Fixing the cracks. Especially when those cracks aren't things Heroes can actually do anything about because it’s domestic violence behind closed doors, it’s gradual dehumanization through public and cultural institutions, it’s bigots beating children with shovels using no quirks and the excuse of generations-long communal superstition, it’s a system officially labeling people as Villain/Enemy like they're cartoony evil comic book antagonists to defeat instead of real people. 

You might say, it’s obvious those things will be fixed! After the war. It’ll be dealt with! By a single panel in the epilogue. Yeah, fair enough. That’s also just bad writing. The conflict should be resolved within the story, the promise of change should be seen, not just vaguely told to us. I can't trust it. 

What the League went through - discrimination, abuse, quirk counseling, marginalization, lack of social support, etc. - was injustice. If the new system that arises after this war - the one that will be led by Deku and his generation - does nothing or barely anything about these things, I cannot trust that the League going into this new system will be given true justice that take into account the crimes committed by them, but also the crimes committed by the people around them towards them and the failures created by the very structure of society. 

I’m being very hard on the Heroes, I know, I’m expecting a lot out of them beyond just ‘saving hearts’. But canonically, Heroes are government-funded civil servants, and the Hero System is an important branch of the governance of this society. The responsibility - to all people - is theirs. If they cannot do this, then Heroes as they are should not exist; something different has to be implemented. 

Shigaraki started this war against the world because it rejected him and his friends, it denied them a future where they could flourish as themselves. If the world changes, then he has a place to be. If the world does not change, then having him take a place in it is just forcing him to conform and keep enduring the same old injustices. 

(But with a Hero friend this time. 🙂 Who shows him how cool Heroes are and teaches him to support the system again. 🙂 Who’s No. 1 in the rankings because competition and popularity has been kept… but it’s gentler or something now. 🙂 And who visits him in Tartarus 2.0, which is largely the same, complete with guns pointed at Shigaraki, just in case he ever uses his quirk because with that power he’s still too dangerous to take chances... but which is no longer staffed by wardens who call their charges ‘beasts in human skin’. 🙂) 

The current trajectory of the story does not inspire me that things will change much. Kids wanna graduate from UA - so we gotta keep those Hero Schools! Business class students are filming everything for post-war propaganda! Gotta show how amazing and necessary Heroes are and continue their celebrity status! Wasn’t All Might so cool when he got into a mecha suit to beat up AFO and the whole world prayed for him? Gotta cement Heroism and belief in their righteousness into the collective consciousness and the dreams of humanity!

So I really want Shigaraki and the League to get to just run off and sentence themselves to what they think is appropriate penance. And if that’s sipping piña coladas on a beach somewhere, that’s what it is.

I apologize if I sounded harsh, anon! It’s not directed at you. My rant is just some of my frustrations with how the story has been progressing, and how either of those theories you’ve seen - imprisonment (likely in Tartarus 2.0) or being assimilated into the (same flawed) system - are lacking, in my opinion. My hopes for the ending are neither of those.

But my hopes are different from what I think is likely to happen. I actually think the opposite of what you think, anon: Imprisonment is more likely. I cannot see people in-universe and out (readers) accepting Shigaraki Tomura being adopted by All Might and becoming a Pro-Hero - it feels unrealistic for the civilian masses of a world that’s canonically wary of Shouto for being related to Dabi, a system that blames Aoyama for being a scared kid and request him to take responsibility for the cowardice of his parents, a moral lesson that says how heteromorphs react to brutal discrimination determines whether they should be listened to or not (and whether their children will be reasonably targeted in revenge); and too at odds with the sensibilities of most readers who are generally much less sympathetic towards the Villains than you and I am (and probably do want to keep the flashy Hero System. But make it ‘nicer’). 

I’ve been browsing through Japanese message boards and the general theories I’ve seen actually include the possibility of death for Shigaraki - but it’ll be suicide, as penance for his crimes; or some convenient manner of dying that won’t dirty up Deku’s hands. Deku can offer him salvation for his heart and soul, but cannot forgive him and let him go unpunished. Shigaraki committed too much damage, too big a crime, and is too dangerous a person to be left alive. If he does survive, he should be imprisoned in Tartarus 2.0 for the rest of his life, and he can correctly show his remorse and rehabilitation by obediently following that sentence.

For a story that wants Shigaraki to be saved, to befriend Deku, to lose his anger and resentment and find hope in the future enough to assimilate back into a continuing Hero Society, I think the logical end result would be Shigaraki serving life sentence in Tartarus 2.0. maybe getting parole for good behavior when he’s 50 and not as sprightly enough to be as deadly a threat. 

Mostly, though, I try not to predict the ending, beyond a small vague hope of Ultimate Karma Houdini I keep at the very back of my mind. Save myself from any disappointment! I remain in the present and accept chapters as they come.

[fractiflos]

I thought a bit more about an Ice King Yoichi AU.

Inspired by this art

He'd be obsessed with kidnapping heroes instead of princesses and while he seems to go after OFA holders 5-8 more often he kidnaps other heroes too. Izuku and Katsuki are the ones who rescue them but are sometimes joined by other students depending on the hero. (Like Shinsou would go if Eraserhead got kidnapped and Monoma if Vlad King got kidnapped). 2 & 3 are supposedly dead while Hikage is the Marceline of this AU. Yoichi was like a father to him and he put on the crown because the ice powers it gave him allowed him to pull his own weight and protect his heroes and Lil' Hikage.

The crown was infused with a bit of AFOs power which is why it drove Yoichi crazy. It was an experiment where AFO thought that he could save energy by having magical (AKA quirked) items to use (he was watching a lot of magical girl anime at the time). He decided on ice since he had a lot of quirks that the Himura family paid him to take. He decided it was too much trouble to plan ahead on whether or not he'd need the crown for every battle, so he ordered it to be disposed of, which is how Yoichi eventually found it and put it on. In the end, his appearance and personality changed so much that AFO doesn't recognize him. He also doesn't recognize the crown because he forgot about it once the experiment was deemd a failure. Yoichi is constantly feeling like there's something he needs to remember but he ignores it.

The timeline: Everyone is born earlier into the more tumultuous time of the Dawn of Quirks. Yoichi passed down OFA to Kudou before finding the crown (in fact, that's why he kept putting it on in the first place, so he could be helpful). Hikage only had OFA for a little bit before passing it onto Banjo because the reminder of Yoichi was too painful. However, once Toshinori got it, they realized that he still had some connection to OFA and that's why he kept going after OFA holders. So, now they all take turns getting it and subsequently kidnapped.

It was assumed that Second and Third were dead because Yoichi remembers freezing them and Hikage saw it happen (Third passed it on a little before that). Turns out, they managed to get thawed out but lost their memories. AFO found them and decided to make them his personal servants.

A bit more to this, but then it would be too long. Feel free to ask any questions.

[pocketramblr]

Hello. If you still accepting asks, can I propose idea of 'AU where Yoichi and Himura clan are related' for 5 headcanons 🙏?

How fitting, Himura is written with the kanji for ice, but also to gather

1- Himura Ririka is from an old, traditional, and wealthy family. She knows her parents would die of shame if they saw her now, sitting in an alleyway waiting for the pregnancy test to finish. She doesn't care. She brings her bottle to her lips and while she knows the drink inside is colder than it probably should be, she doesn't think much of it. Perhaps it's the shade of the building or the light breeze. The test comes back positive, but there's no way for her to know there's twins. She packs her things and moves- sleeping on the ground can get cold, she's woken up with frost all over her blanket and even though she doesn't feel sick, she'd rather not die of exposure just because she's numb to it.

2- When the babies are born, they are hungry. She tries to nurse them but everything hurts and she is tired. She closes her eyes and doesn't open them again. The bigger baby keeps drinking, and when there's no more, keeps trying to until an ice meta power slides into him instead. When the river almost washes him and his brother away, they'll survive floating on an ice raft.

2- on the streets, the children barely manage to survive, but unlike everyone else they have an easier time in the winter- even Yoichi, who is normally sick. They suppose it's because the cold kills the things that sets off his allergies and because he has his brother's body warmth to cling to.

3- when the boys are ten, they fully realize what it means the there are other metas out there when they hear of the Ice Fortress - apparently, there's an extended family where nearly every child born in the last eight years has had an ice meta power, so the relatives have gathered together to protect them all. A few other metas hope to find them and join them too. AfO and Yoichi creep along behind.

4- the metas don't exactly get a warm welcome from the Himuras, though- they're welcome to join the family to work for them, but only if they can be of use. A few of the group are hired as guards. Most of the women and children are sent away. Yoichi turns to go too, but AfO grabs his hands, and they wait. The Himura spokesman tries to shoe them away once the others are gone, leaving to go back inside, but AfO sends a jet of ice forward, keeping it from closing. When the man turns, shocked, AfO just says that this is Himura Yoichi, his little brother, and they are Ririka's sons. The boys are hurried inside.

5- the boys are the eldest of the group of cousins, and pleased enough with the new food, though Yoichi asks with every group if they can help them more. His uncles chide him for being like a soft-hearted girl. Yoichi stares blankly at them for why that's an issue. He cries when sent away to do chores to learn manners though, so AfO responds by making the uncle's daughter cry... By cutting her hair and stealing her meta power. With this, the whole family is in uproar about an imposter child, a brood parasite, but their grandmother calls them back to order by reminding them she had paternity tests done to be sure, and that AfO's ice is from his mother, her daughter. Then she points out that Ririka must have been the first case of meta powers, if it developed sometime between her running away and the boys being born. Somewhere between 2 and 5 years before the glowing baby. They could use that. AfO is named Himura Magoichirou and is rewarded with double dessert for returning his cousin's power. He and Yoichi receive more tutoring as the family plans to use him, and in return, he starts planning on how to use them, growing from prince to king of their little clan, and soon enough, their not so little swatch of control.

[princess-of-the-corner]

Actually because the subject came up before:

Though I /did/ say something about Enji and Rei getting a divorce, I think it'd be funnier if they didn't purely because it's so much easier?

Like why deal with alimony payments when they can just stay married and Rei gets free reign of their joint bank account?

Enji has FANTASTIC fucking health insurance why would Rei give that up? Totally helps with that trans headcanon rotating in the back of my mind! (technically because Hero's insurance is so good she'd be able to ride off Shoto or Toya's but then they'd have to fill out the paperwork to switch her over.)

They don't have to deal with who gets custody of the kids because Shoto's the only one underage and he's spending most of his time at the UA dorms and choosing who he spends his spare time with on his own terms anyway. Child support? I refer you back to the alimony. Besides even if they managed to divorce the /second/ they could, Shoto's already 16 so that's just two years. (and divorces can sometimes take a while especially because you know the lawyers will try to start shit so Shoto might be 18 by then anyway)

That house is big enough that they could just be roommates and have awkward moments when they bring a date home, but also they totally have the money if Rei wants to get her own place. (probably better earlier on considering they're still fixing their shit)

You KNOW that despite everything Fuyumi is going to drag their asses to family dinner on occasion anyway

Rei feels like keeping the Todoroki name because FUCK going back to Himura she still considers the marriage a step up from her birth family

[dekusleftsock]

Did anyone see this? I feel like it’s a small detail in the pile of evidence for Izuku’s “control your heart” thing going on.

Hell, even Bakugou Katsuki Rising is referenced in the same chapter.

(Side note: me and my friend ended up spending 20 minutes identifying that flower, ty @the-real-loverboy for being my favorite flower nerd—regardless it’s called the Paris Japonica, a rare flower native to Japan that has the largest genome to our knowledge. Only problem? I can’t find any symbolism on this flower, and every source is written by white people in the west on how to care for the flower so. If anyone knows literally anything important about this flower, I’m very very interested. I know that it can bloom in the early winter and is more tolerable to colder climates, so maybe it’s a reference to rei/the general himura family? Who knows)

Going back to the original thought, I think the line “I wonder what changes we’ll witness… come tomorrow” has been kind of disregarded. And, as the newest spoilers have shown, the entire todoroki family is undergoing this evolution of the heart ALONGSIDE their own personal quirks.

Now, what does that have to do with bkdk and Izuku specifically? We have ofc, the plot line of Izuku not being able to control his heart for Katsuki, but what makes this situation unique is one for all itself.

Ofa, as I understand it, is a quirk closely related to romance. It’s surrounded all of Izuku’s emotions and close relationships, along with Nana’s signature line describing ofa as romantic. And, if we’re talking about near death experiences making these hidden parts of their quirks pop out unintentionally, then that would explain why Katsuki has a connection to ofa. From the ofa stars DURING Bakugou Katsuki Rising, to being able to meet and then talk to the Allmight vestige.

So, uncontrolled emotions, rejection of vulnerability, creates an intimate connection to anyone that Izuku the character, cares about.

On top of all of this, all of Izuku’s inner quirk stuff is so closely tied to his heart, that he doesn’t even need to be in life or death situations—it just has to feel like it. Anger so palpable, he literally unlocks blackwhip. Fear of his friends and fellow heroes demise so strong he unlocks float. And the list goes on and on, with him unlocking most of his quirks during his lowest low, his depressive episode.

Izuku doesn’t have to be dying like Touya does to lose control, he just has to vaguely feel like it.

And of the characters I feel have not evolved their hearts as much as their quirks, Katsuki and Izuku I feel will be the most passionate.

But I digress, here’s the people I believe will have this inner life or death quirk “awakening” because of their hearts: Toga, Ochako, Deku, Katsuki, Shigaraki, and the entire Todoroki family.

Now, controlling your heart and near death experiences, lets see—why are these two ideas so closely tied to each other? What makes them inherently unique in comparison to each other?

Or rather, a better question, what connects them?

I’d argue it’s acceptance. Pain could be another argument sure, but I feel like it’s way more common to just accept that your dying when you’re almost dead, than to actually register the pain from it.

And acceptance of the heart often comes hand in hand with those experiences—Endeavor knows he will die with Touya and he has accepted the fact that he was never enough for him as a father, but that if he can bring him to the sky, it will be okay because he can die with his son as penitence for his wrongdoings, while keeping the rest of his family okay. Probably better off without him because of his actions.

And Katsuki, during his death, has accepted his fate. But while doing so, he has also accepted that he won’t catch up to Izuku, that he truly has been a dorky fan of Allmight, that he can die loving him. (Love doesn’t have to mean romantic in this example, like yes I do believe they will be canon, but love is a loose term here because of what his death truly meant) Because that death meant accepting his care and his admiration of Izuku, that he’s always been looking behind him.

And this circles back to Izuku, with parallels between Rei chasing Endeavor into the fire paralleling Izuku chasing Katsuki into fire during the sludge villain fight, because endeavors death is—while poetic—ultimately only harmful. Yes he is saving the city and Japan, he is dying as a hero and protecting his family, but as Shoto said, they have to do it together. This isn’t Endeavor healing his heart, I would argue it’s meaningless sacrifice born out of guilt. Rei SHOULD help, Natsuo SHOULD help, Fuyumi SHOULD HELP! Shoto shouldn’t have tried to fight dabi on his own, because Enji and Shoto both feel entirely responsible for what Touya has become, when they aren’t!

People forget that Touya is a fucking adult. He’s a serial killer and an arsonist because he chose to be. That doesn’t mean he’s forever going to be the worst person in the world, but no one person is responsible for his actions other than him. And that’s a reality we have to accept with our trauma, our parents can exponentially fuck up and make us terrible people, but you as a person have every opportunity as an adult to change what they have made you become. Touya could have gotten a job if he was that mad at his dad, he could have just fucking knocked on the front door of his house, he could have chosen at ANY POINT in his life to say, “No, I shouldn’t do that.” But he simply didn’t.

And not Endeavor, not Rei, not Natsuo, not Fuyumi, and certainly not Shoto are responsible for that. Dabi is selfish. I love his character but that’s a fact. He is selfish because of his trauma yes, this is all born out of an innate childhood need for his fathers attention yes, but that doesn’t make it justified.

“But Sock what about what you said earlier about saving him together!” I still stand by both my points.

Dabi can both need to be saved AND can also be selfish for needing to be saved in the first place. Those aren’t opposite ideas, they can still coexist. And they can coexist because Dabi is a character written well! He’s not a “villain with the right ideas taken too far”, he’s a complex person with an interesting backstory who has still killed people. (Fun fact dabi has committed several war crimes under the Geneva Convention LMAO)

MHA describes heroics as oftentimes “sticking your nose in places where they don’t belong”, meaning even people who don’t necessarily want to be saved. Dabi can still be selfish and wrong while still needing to be saved and supported.

There’s this line in a fanfic I read, something about human beings sometimes not having enough time in their life to become a better person. For person A, maybe it takes a couple months and a few simple ideas. For person B, maybe it takes your whole life and then some to understand the weight of your own actions. And that doesn’t make person A or person B incapable of change, they can still just need a proper opportunity to understand, or practice to implement a new idea into their mind.

Maybe person B just needed better luck, maybe person A was just a teenager growing up, but they both can still change.

Tangent over about the Todoroki family, back to Izuku. Like Endeavor in this instance, Izuku is often the type to have this martyr mentality, but unlike Izuku, Endeavor is the one currently in the fire, or more rather, he is the one currently dying. Like Katsuki.

Katsuki has accepted his death in this war, that ship has sailed. He has come close to death and then actually died, and the todoroki’s are currently going through the process. So that leaves Izuku. (And technically Toga too, maybe ochako, but that’s for another meta one day maybe)

Will Izuku have to come close to death? I’m excited to see.

Idrk how to end this meta, I think I had other thoughts and ideas I wanted to share, (along with a better conclusion), but I forgot those ideas and stuff about half way through writing this.

[sarahjtv]

So, My Hero Academia Chapter 387 (MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD)...

That was a really, really good chapter, but hoo boy that fucked me up real bad and I need to get some thoughts off my chest before I go to sleep.  Tumblr is the best place to post this; I’m not spending $8 on Twitter Blue to type this out.

First off, more eugenic stuff yay...  This time with Rei’s family, the Himuras.  So, turns out that Geten (the ice villain following Re-Destro) is a part of that family which means that he’s the Todoroki’s cousin at best.  I think Rei would’ve said something if he was her brother. 

And that the Himura’s have been inbreeding to keep their bloodline “pure” and their ice Quirk in tact...  And forced marriages were also desperate attempts to keep this in check.  UM WHAT THE FUCK, HORIKOSHI???  I’m not saying this is a bad thing story-wise, but it makes the Todoroki Family situation so, so much worse if that was even possible.  And sadly they’re not the only family to do this... 

So, if Rei was a product of inbreeding, then (and correct me if I’m wrong) the Todoroki children are technically inbred too on top of being born out of a quirk marriage to begin with INCLUDING SHOUTO WHO’S BEEN THROUGH ENOUGH (I need to clarify that I’m not criticizing Rei or her kids, it’s not their faults. I’m criticizing the practice of inbreeding itself).  I feel ill just thinking about that.  This is some royal family shit that should never be a thing to begin with.  I don’t care if marrying your 2nd cousin shouldn’t fuck up the kids too badly, it’s still extremely fucked up period!  This is honestly worse than the quirk marriage imo and that was bad enough as it was.  I kind of wish Horikoshi didn’t include this because it’s sadly kind of warpping my perception of them, but I’m not going to fly over to Japan and throw hands with him over it.

And this puts more context into why Rei chose to marry Enji because agreeing to be bought into a marriage with Endeavor to create the perfect offspring with Fire and Ice is somehow better than MARRYING YOUR FUCKING COUSIN AND HAVING A CHILD WITH THEM!  She never had a good choice to begin with; she just chose the best one that was given to her.  God, I feel bad for this woman.

I honestly need a few days to process this because it was dropped so casually and now I need to sit down and think of the implications of it while working on my finals 🥲

Onto Dabi who is fighting his dad with like half of his body remaining.  How the hell this man is alive is a goddamn mystery because he looks like a burning skeleton.  And this whole thing has caused his Quirk to evolve to the point where he’s now producing ICE ❄️!  HE HAS AN ICE QUIRK NOW TOO!  IT’S EXACTLY THE THING ENDEAVOR WANTED THIS WHOLE TIME AND NOW HE HAS IT IN THE WORST WAY POSSIBLE!  I WANT TO SCREAM!  SHOUTO AND DABI ARE REALLY 2 SIDES OF THE SAME COIN! 

There really is no way of knowing if Touya would’ve unlocked this part of his Quirk if he trained more with Endeavor, but the fact that he actually had the potential to become exactly what he was born for is devastating.  He could’ve been what his father wanted him to become, but his Quirk was too dangerous to himself to try.  If this happened, Natsuo and Shouto might not have been born (I’m glad they were born tbh), but at least the family would’ve been spared a shit ton of trauma.

Oh, and it looks like that massive fire punch he threw at Endeavor completely burned off his right arm and now he’s right armless like Endeavor.  That one panel of them “dancing” with right fire arms is haunting.  You could write a whole short essay on that panel.  Horikoshi loves parallels and I do too.

Honestly, I really expected Horikoshi to just kill off Endeavor and Dabi at the same time this chapter.  It looked like that’s where it was going.  There are a lot of ways their fates could be going and I can see it happening all those ways.  Personally, I want them to live at least until Shouto finally gets there.  I think Horikoshi is setting up that “Todoroki Family Reunion” he’s been planning since Chapter 300 or something especially with Rei entering the battle field.  What happens next is something we’ll have to wait for.  I want Endeavor to live honestly.  But, I can definitely see Dabi dying at the end because I really don’t think he’s going to survive at this rate.  Horikoshi cooked him too well 😂😭.

And finally REI TODOROKI!!!  The block or whatever her and her family were being transported in was stopped right below Gunga Mountain last chapter and they were forced to go up to the surface to make sure they avoid Dabi’s fiery explosion.  That’s why she’s up on the surface to begin with.  I do want to know how the hell she got to the battlefield so quickly though.  I don’t see her as a fighter, but maybe she trained her Ice Quirk to glide on it like Shouto does.  I’m really curious to see what she does because she does hold some responsibility for how Dabi turned out and I think she’s trying to atone in a way too.  This better not mean she’s dying though.  I don’t need the Todorokis to deal with more trauma, especially Shouto.

Anyways, there’s a lot to unpack in this chapter and there’s probably more to dive into.  Um, I’m glad to see Mr. Compress again like Horikoshi promised.  He’s probably still assless though.  Where are the 2nd year UA students you promised, sir???  But, yeah, the Todoroki drama continues to be more and more fucked up by the weeks.  Please let this family have peace one day I’m begging  🙏.

[doodlegirl1998]

Really thinking about what you said "My Abuser academy"and it feel too right in canon.

Look Endy being forgiven and people apologising to him feels it was a progression of a nig scheme. Let me try to explain

BK is visually being abusive to Izu. Hori undermines that, somehow and only god knows what this man thinks, makes Izu's tears a joke.

Fandom went along.

And you see many, many arts with Izu and BK.

Some people think Hori will redeem him.

Then we go to Endy. He is abusive to his family and at first it seems this will be taken serious....but Endy's redemption begins when he got what he wanted...and he doesnt lose anything.

It is all a progression. If people found funny BK trying to kill Izu (and I bet there are people like that) than...there are people who wanted to see abuser Endy be redeemed.

Hi @mikeellee 👋,

Yeah I have to admit in my more cynical moments there are parts of MHA where the messaging can feel quite malicious at times;

The constant undermining and playing up for comedy with Bakugou's abusive behavior seems to be (combined with what I know of Japans stance on bullying) mean-spirited in particular toward Izuku. Also using both AM and Aizawa as mouth pieces to push the narrative that whatever toxic mess that Bkg and Izuku have going on is a rivalry? Like Izuku has some fault in Bkg's toxic bullying bullshit? Nope! It's shit to read and I hate it.

Hori now brushing over the true weight of Endeavour's abuse with his retcons "Rei just tripped", "Incest in the Himura family is why Dabi and Rei are crazy" (a take I've unfortunately heard from Endeav fans), "Evil Touya tried to kill Shoto so that's why Endeav kept Shoto away from the other kids - he wasn't deliberately separating the masterpiece at all!!) Also the way Hori is framing this is gross - like with Izuku and Bakugou - he's trying to make out like Endeav's victims also have some fault in how Dabi turned out.

Bonus - have a third example! Hawks and Twice. What did Hawks lose for killing Twice? His reputation with the heroes? Nope. His job? Nope. His wings and/or health? Nope. Experience any crippling guilt for stabbing his mentally ill friend in the back and murdering him in cold blood? Also Nope, to add insult to injury Nagant, experiences more guilt than him, has a moment where she looks up to him for still having HOPE! And he answers with 'I guess I'm an optimist.' How can you be Hawks?! Where's the goddamn guilt you should feel?! The conflict? The...anything apart from being up Endeavors ass! Do you feel my anger about this?! Granted Toga is using Twice's blood to go on a murderous rampage but she didn't use that to kill Hawks or go after those he cares for like Tokoyami (does he care for Tokoyami, actually?- that bond feels like Tokoyami likes Hawks more than Hawks likes him to be honest but the point still stands.)

TLDR - the abusers and murderers in MHA lose nothing as long as they're on the heroes side which is a godawful message to have considering the heroes in this story are meant to be like super powered cops.

[class1akids]

Reading Dabi’s saying Natsuo’a name while his brain was being deep fried is pretty sad. If Rei is here I wonder if Natsuo heard that or not. It must have hurt like hell seeing your brother like that.

That Natsuo really stood out to me, because Touya is saying it while he's using his fire.

That - together with Geten explaining how the Himura line evolved - makes me really wonder if there is something special about Natsuo's quirk. He's is the only quirk in the Todoroki family that was never officially revealed. We kind of assume it's ice based on the the coloring of his hair /eyes, but I do wonder why say Fuyumi had "Frost" and say nothing about Natsuo.

So I'm kind of expecting not only a scene between Natsuo and Touya, but also maybe a flashback of some kind of secret training they did, revealing that the ignored middle son actually has a totally overlooked, but actually pretty insane quirk (maybe some healing? or some different twist on ice? )

Anyways - I feel like there's gonna be something to Natsuo too and he frankly deserves to get a good input into saving Touya.

As to Dabi's deep-fried brain - Rei is there to cool him off, so he should start to be able to think again.

[stillness-in-green]

Pair o' Todofam Asks

Two very short replies, mea culpa for the wait only for such shortness, anon(s). I had two other Todoroki-related asks that I will be deleting for being just too long past any reasonable window on talking about them in detail. Even if I'd gotten to them right away, I fear I wouldn't have had much to say, given my low motivation to devote a tremendous amount of thought to the Todorokis. Apologies, anon(s) for those asks!

Dabi be like, “But how can I effectively guilt trip my father and the rest of them if I can’t dramatically immolate myself along with the rest of the world?!?!”

But levity aside, given the whole “too many quirks can damage the mind” element, giving Dabi a fire resistance quirk might just have been trading one brain fry for another.  (Not that the damaged mind from too many quirks angle has been relevant to anything other than depriving Spinner of psychological agency, but whatever.)

Given the glaring absence of Shouto from the flashback of Shouji talking to his classmates about his backstory, my strong feeling is that Horikoshi is just not going to deal with it all.  I’ll be very surprised if he does otherwise!  But just given what we have, it’s hard to deny the 1-2-3 that’s right there on the page:

Todoroki sons call heteromorphs animals (Shouto and Tsuragamae; Dabi and Spinner).

Calling heteromorphs animal names is explicitly recognized as insensitive (Spinner getting angry about it; Mineta’s apology).

The Himura family are explicitly labeled as disliking heteromorphs.

Like, combined with the fact that Endeavor absolutely never uses words that way despite, just, so much opportunity, it feels like about as explicit an acknowledgement as we could ask for that isn’t a direct confirmation.  Endeavor haters can stay mad about it, I guess?  As I said when I talked about this the first time, Rei having some Problematic Attitudes she grew up with and has been too isolated to have much opportunity to unlearn does not make her any less a victim of abuse, and it’s only, as you said, removing nuance to pretend that abuse victims are incapable of being prejudiced in various ways.

[bnhaobservation]

I doubt we'll ever get it but I would love it if Horo gave us more information about Rei's thought process now that we know about her family. Did she want a second child because she wanted an ice baby to carry on the quirk or did she want a "failure" with a fire quirk to get away from her parents ideals once and for all? Was she happy or sad with her ice quirk daughter who inherited her quirk but not her fate of being married off for bigoted reasons? How did she feel when Natsuo came out as the perfect ice quirk baby boy her parents had most likely wanted Rei herself to be? Does she know about Natsuo's mouse eared girlfriend?

Oh, I would definitely love to have more info about Rei!

I hate how we don't even have her character profile contrary to other characters who have a much smaller role and yet have a profile, like Jiro's parents, the elementary school teacher or Kurumada to name a few...

I was really hoping her profile would be added to the new volume since in it we learn things about her family and she has a relevant role but instead... no luck.

She gets a color image (along with Natsuo) but... that's all.

To have more info about herself from her voice would have been definitely nice (I mean, why it has to be Geten the one who speaks about the Himura? It could have been her and Horikoshi could show us an image of Geten as she spoke/thought about it just to clue us in on how he too was an Himura if that was really important for future developments).

However, it could be he believed some answers were intuitive enough due to the story theme and structure.

I mean, I'm not Horikoshi but if we take your question and look at them from a Doylistic perspective...

1) Did she want a second child because she wanted an ice baby to carry on the quirk or did she want a "failure" with a fire quirk to get away from her parents ideals once and for all?

This is Enji's perspective, of course, but when the narrative doesn't try to counter it, the reader is generally expected to accept what a character say about another character as true... so likely Rei only wanted more children so that they could encourage each other (while Enji still yearned for the perfect Quirk).

The story never shows Rei as having an interest in Quirks, so she likely didn't care about her children's Quirks, she just wanted to love them, which fit with how the narrative wants to portray her as a loving mother... mostly in contrast with how Enji failed as a parent.

2) Was she happy or sad with her ice quirk daughter who inherited her quirk but not her fate of being married off for bigoted reasons?

Again, there's no reference to Rei's reaction to her children's Quirks, in contrast to how Enji is happy because, even though it's not perfect, Touya's Quirk has more potential than his own.

The narrative is likely trying to drive home how Enji is focused on his children's Quirks, so by contrast Rei isn't. Enji doesn't comment on his wife's reaction to their daughter's ice Quirk, the whole thing is likely meant to tell us that Rei instead, didn't care about Quirks because Rei is the good parent who loves children unconditionally.

So yeah, I think she was happy with Fuyumi regardless of her Quirk.

The anime drives this better home with this small addition that shows Rei smiling at little Fuyumi.

The interaction is meant to parallel Enji and Touya's but where Enji is happy because Touya shows him his fire, here Rei is happy because Fuyumi shows her flowers.

Mind you, a funny thing about BNHA that not always western readers seem to catch is that even if BNHA criticizes Quirk Marriage, arranged marriage is still a thing in both BNHA and real life Japan...

...and, I think, this is actually what Horikoshi is subtly trying to criticize.

Not the attempt to create a baby with a perfect Quirk, but the fact Enji wants to marry Rei for self interest and not love, and Rei's family is all in favour of the marriage because it's advantagious for them too.

This is still a thing in real life (though luckily it's slowly disappearing), and it's likely what Horikoshi is trying to criticize.

A more adult story "Umineko no naku koro ni" discusses the idea behind arranged marriages. Here I present you a bit of an exchange between a mother (Eva) and her son (George) when she wants to push him into an arranged marriage (as she had been pushed into). Don't be fooled by the western names, they're pure Japanese people, it's just the family which has an obsession for western names.

"Shouldn't marriage meetings be done at a more mature age...?! I still don't feel like I've become an adult..." "Of course, we have no desire to rush into an immediate engagement or marriage, right? It isn't a problem if you deepen your friendship, and then when you settle down as you age, have her moved to our family register." From Eva's forceful appearance, and George's somewhat lazy one, the others could catch a glimpse of the scheme behind this marriage meeting. They didn't know who this other person was, but it was surely someone profitable to Eva's family in a business sense. This whole thing about having them have an engagement relationship until they changed registers to deepen the connection between the two families felt almost like a political strategy. "Marriage isn't something you do after you start liking someone. You fall in love after you do it, right? If you marry just based on emotions, you'll definitely regret it. There's definitely nothing wrong with choosing a person with a secure background for your partner in life, and then building up emotions of love."

In case you're wondering the story (which is placed in 1986 so not centuries ago) isn't in favour of arranged marriages, it just presents the view on it of an important rich family.

Plus Eva, the mother, having been lucky and having been married to a really amazing man, doesn't see nothing wrong in what was done to her.

By having Rei's kids speaking against how Rei was sold, by showing how bad her marriage was, I tend to think this is what Horikoshi is subtly trying to speak against, arranged marriages, not so much just Quirk marriages.

Of course, we could argue that the Himura's tendency to marry among them isn't meant to parallel marriages for interest but marriages out of racistic beliefs... and it could be but Horikoshi tosses it so late in the game it feels like something he came up all of sudden. It was a perfectly valid point to make but it ended up being too rushed to be something that can be apprecciated.

I tend to wonder if the problem was maybe the "Dark Hero arc" was meant to be longer and in it the whole Himura family thing as well as Enji's father death were meant to play a bigger role... but the arc ended up being cut short and so Horikoshi had to salvage what he could when it wa too late for him to give it the space it needed.

(also, part of the Todoroki's story was retconned so it's hard to judge things correctly but more about this later).

3) How did she feel when Natsuo came out as the perfect ice quirk baby boy her parents had most likely wanted Rei herself to be?

The visual shows her smiling at baby Natsuo and "School Briefs" have Natsuo talk about her as a loving mother for him, one who compensate how his father didn't look at him, and in the manga interactions with Natsuo she just seem to love him so I would say she was happy with how Natsuo was.

I like to represent Rei as a single child in my fic, but in truth we don't know if she was a single child. Rei might have siblings, brothers, and she might not even be the firstborn. The main family could have had more children than Enji did for all we know, and, in truth, what they really needed was only a male heir to carry on the family... which they might have had. The Himura's thick blood narration is likely there to insure the readers the Himura children would all have an ice Quirk due to the Himura thick blood, to the point that even Touya, who apparently seemed not to have it, ultimately had it.

So in addition to the story showing Rei having no interest in her children's Quirks, it can be that her family already had a perfect heir and no expectations where put on Rei, as it can be she was just a second born child like Fuyumi (in a traditional Japanese family all the expectations are generally put on the first male child born in the family, not even on the second male child unless, for some exceedingly rare reason, the first male born child fails at being a suitable heir).

However Natsuo's birth came with a big problem tied with it.

Rei didn't want another kid, not so much because she didn't want more children, but because she figured Touya would be hurt by them trying to product another perfect Quirk child.

The story feds us with Enji's excuse, that they're having it because this will stop Touya from burning himself, this will make Touya give up.

There's a debate in the fandom if, at this point, Enji committed marital rape or if Rei let herself be persuaded and agreed reluctantly to have Natsuo.

(by the way, on June 16, 2023 the Upper House of Parliament in Japan passed passed unanimously a new law which, in addition to raising the age of consent from 13 to 16, defines rape as “nonconsensual sexual intercourse” and removes a previous requirement that the crime had to include physical force to be called rape. Until now, Japan’s laws on sexual assault did not mention consent, reflecting skepticism that anyone could be forced into sex without violence... and, even though it does not deny spousal rape, no court has ever ruled on such a case, except in situations of marital breakdown... meaning by the time Horikoshi wrote this scene he might have not concerned himself with the whole matter)

Regardless of which theory you decide to embrace, Natsuo having an ice Quirk doesn't fix things by either proving Enji right or wrong, which is what leads to Shouto's birthday.

So while the narrative doesn't show Rei as a woman interested in her children's Quirks, the narrative also tells us that Natsuo's ice Quirk is a problem because, with it, the situation can only stay unchanged or get worse while I think she had hope that Shouto's perfect Quirk would have solved things.

4) Does she know about Natsuo's mouse eared girlfriend?

Manga and anime translation seem to disagree but this is the text in the Japanese manga.

'Zemi de kanojo de kitan datte'

ゼミで彼女できたんだって

"I heard (from you/from someone else) that (you/he) got a girlfriend at the seminar."

The sentence doesn't say from who Fuyumi heard it (nor if she's talking directly to him or reporting what Natsuo is doing to Rei), so it can be she heard someone say so, but it's more likely Natsuo told her so, especially since Natsuo and Fuyumi talk about what Natsuo will do with his girlfriend to celebrate the new year.

The manga will also show Fuyumi meeting the girl... so it's not like he's hiding her from his sister, a sign they weren't educated into thinking Heteromorphs aren't someone they should associate with.

So I think that the idea is that with that sentence Fuyumi just informed Rei about how Natsuo has a girlfriend. As the topic immediately switches it's hard to say if Natsuo eventually said Rei more about her, like that she's an Heteromorph.

Would Rei or someone in the Todoroki family have problems because she's an heteromorph? Likely not. They're all city people and the manga established that in big cities Heteromorphs aren't discriminated in fact according to Shoji, Heteromorph kids kile Koda and Tokoyami and others who grew up in cities would only have read of such things in books...

...and even the Heteromprh guy of the MLA agrees that in cities discrimination is a thing of the past.

The overall narrative message was that, in addition to how education can win discrimination is that yes, the UA kids (Shouto, Mineta, Tsunotori) when talking to Heteromorphs called them by their animal Quirk but this doesn't mean they're racist, they just don't know any better, which yes, wasn't something that impressed positively many in the fandom as it seems a poor way to handle all that but, for the sake of it existing let's just say the narrative wants to tell us city people won't think ill of Heteromorphs so probably Rei, which I assume is a city person since she's from the main house, wouldn't see them any different from how she would see other people.

Plus, narratively, she's meant to be a good person.

Note though that this is all said from a Doylistic perspective. Because the author wants to say certain things or doesn't say certain things or has certain themes it's reasonable to assume my speculations could be the answer but... there's nearly zero canon proof of it so it's not like I can call all I've said as surely right.

Plus there's something to keep in mind about the narrative of the Todoroki story, something that can cause problems in interpreting Rei and the narrative around her correctly... which is that the whole Todoroki plotline was retconned, possibly even more than once.

In fact, we start with this bit in chap 44 in which Shouto says he NEVER went to see Rei (after she was hospitalized).

Note that Fuyumi's question seems also to hint at how it was Shouto's choice to decide not to go to her and she's surprised he's doing it after all this time but she's not worried about which consequences this could have on her mother, just if they would need her father's permission to do so.

Then we move to chap 250, which implies Touya died after their mother was hospitalized and THIS caused Rei to get worse to the point she couldn't see Shouto any longer.

So it's no more Shouto's choice and he never went to her. Now it's just Rei getting worse in hospital AFTER TOUYA DIES so Shouto couldn't anymore. And Fuyumi singles out just Shouto, which imply she and Natsuo could.

Then we jump to chap 302 magazine version in which Rei says how, after Touya was gone she began seeing Enji in her children, meaning this is what caused Shouto's burn, the visual supporting the idea... though the visual adds Natsuo too to the kids which reminded her of Enji, not just Shouto.

So no, Touya now didn't die anymore after Rei's hospitalization but before it, meaning Rei too was also responsible for not going after him when he went on Sekoto Peak.

This time though, someone warned Horikoshi of how he contradicted previous canon and so the whole thing was changed for the volume version. A page was added to make clear Rei was in hospital when Touya 'died'...

...and the image behind Rei's balloon was switched to one that showed her hospital room.

Narratively it would have probably been better if Rei's lines of dialogues had been switched so that those saying she was in hospital were placed where we can see the hospital door and the one in which she said she couldn't stand the sight of Enji in the new page but whatever.

Why all this is relevant?

In the very first part of the story Rei is, narratively, just a victim. She's a good mother, who suffered a lot, to the point Shouto forgets her smiling face when she told him he could be a Hero and remembers her solely crying...

...when in truth she also found the strength to smile and support him...

... never mention the times she would get between him and his father and get hit in his place...

It would stand to reason such a good mother would have protected and supported Touya too, and the fact she ended up hospitalized was why he ended up unsupervised, making the whole thing with Touya something due to which solely Enji was to blame.

But, when he fixed Touya's history in chap 301/302, Horikoshi likely decided the whole family had to be to blame.

So Rei isn't supportive of Touya's dream (which in BNHA is generally bad) but tells Touya to stop as well...

...and in the first draft was even meant to be at home and be as well responsible for not going after Touya when he was on Sekoto Peak and then burned.

The worsening of Enji and the consequent snapping of Rei would be caused by Touya's death of which they both were directly responsible as they didn't go after him.

Only... Horikoshi is then reminded Rei couldn't be at home when Touya burned as she was hospitalized before Touya's 'death'... so things... get changed.

And that's not the sole instance where the narrative change things.

Both Shouto and Touya points out how Enji forced Rei's family to give her up.

...only for Rei claiming that yes, her options were limited but she chose and could have refused (and the Himura family looking not forced at all but delighted to sell her off)... only for the story to late tell us hadn't the Himura family sold her to Enji, they would have handed her off in marriage to some distant cousin which basically it's insurance Enji didn't have to force her family at all to sell her. Selling daughters was standard practice for them.

And those aren't the sole instances where the narrative gives us mixed or retconned messages.

(Despite all this though I still love the Todoroki story!)

So... it's really hard to figure which message the narrative, for now, is trying to pass about Rei, beyond that they wanted her to be an overall loving mother and good person, who however made a mistake with his eldest and snapped when she saw her youngest.

As a result, since canon is so vague and the narrative changed way too many times, well, more CANON info about her would have been greatly apprecciated, at least as far as I'm involved.

Since Horikoshi isn't even showing her profile though, I fear he just isn't interested in doing so... which for me is sad as I TOTALLY LOVE THE TODOROKI FAMILY and really wanted to know more about them...

So yes, I join you in the wish for more info about the Todoroki family because speculating as I just this is fun but... it's not canon and my guesses might have been completely off track.

Thank you for your ask and sorry for the long reply but I love to talk about the Todoroki family!

[ace-and-the-rpg-horrors]

OC LOREDROP PRETTY PLEASE??

okayyy!!! i haveeeee soooooo many OCs, i'm going to talk about the ones from the fairy realm part in my story!!

right, so one of my deuteragonists from the previous part of the story, Hana Kaetsu, in the fantasy arc, accidentally gets sent to the fairy realm by reading a letter from a mysterious group mistakenly delivered to her, that was actually meant for her classmate Sybil Villin who's secretly a witch (she's pretty open about her interest in making potions and researching the supernatural and all that but ofc everyone just thinks she's interested in it cause. people don't generally believe in that anymore). anywayyyyy cause of Hana's little misadventure there, she because one of four people in her class who are now able to see ghosts and other supernatural creatures due to now having a connection with the supernatural. the other three are Sybil, ofc, cause she's a witch, her friend Naoki Himura because he managed to free and summon the ghost of their murdered classmate Ashley Atwell, and Ash herself cause. ghost

butttt before being able to return to the human world after Sybil, Naoki and Ash figured out what was going on when she suddenly disappeared (only they noticed that Hana had gone missing due to her disappearance being of supernatural causes, and them being the only ones around who have that experience- for everyone else, it's as if Hana never existed but they remember her again as if nothing happened after she returns), Hana met Sybil's "coven" (which is a gathering of witches, but they're not all witches, half of them are fae), the coven being the one who tried to address that letter to Sybil, wanting her back as she'd suddenly lost contact with them for a few years. where Hana ends up after being transported there is a village in the fairy realm called "Glacialisville" and the forests surrounding it, a slightly cold area that gets very snowy winters and not very warm summers, only about 25 degrees Celsius max. also quite windy and prone to storms

the coven consists of:

Lady Esmerelda- a forty-six year old witch who is basically the leader, currently the lady of the mansion they are based in, "Glacies Manor" though she doesn't own it, just looking after it until Rowan feels prepared enough to take on the responsibility. adoptive mother of Rowan and Dahlia

Rowan Leblanc- a nineteen year old witch. his bio mother was executed for being caught practicing witchcraft- her and her ancestors were the true owners of Glacies Manor and are a long line of very powerful witches (though are known for having slightly unstable magic compared to others), including a particularly infamous one...

Dahlia Leblanc- a seventeen year old vampire who was banished from the vampire realm, in which she was princess of one of the royal families. disowned due to not being considered a "real" vampire as she was born with an incredibly rare and tricky condition that made her highly allergic to blood

Marceline- a seventeen year old witch, old friends with Sybil and the one who set out to find her again. Marcy is incredibly skilled with a sword and plans to enrol into the uni below

Belle, Olivier and Ciel Krieger- twenty year old fairy triplets who attend an university that specifies in training future members of the fairy army with sword fighting, archery etc

Nixie- a seventeen year old unique type of fairy that can shape shift- however he can only turn into creatures that humans consider fictional, such as a unicorn, pegasus, phoenix, dragon, mermaid

Ghost- twelve years old, a type of fairy known as changeling who was switched into an awful family in the human world. Lady Esme found her and immediately saved and took her in after seeing how she was treated due to being fae. cannot speak due to having a damaged throat from that "family" trying to kill her by stabbing, prefers to mainly communicate through drawings and miming. is able to communicate with these jelly-like floating creatures around the forest who she often holds tea parties with

Lillie- a twelve year old witch who looks up to the older witches in the coven (Lady Esme, Marcy and especially Rowan due to him being very older brotherly) who is incredibly excited about becoming able to use controlled magic at thirteen (spoiler- doesn't happen, she's murdered four days before her thirteenth birthday)

need two more characters to make a whole "thirteen" for the coven feel, haven't thought of them yet

other major characters!! Dahlia and Marcy's college classmates, all also seventeen (well. probably not cause birthdays and all that but i haven't figured it out yet. they attend Glacialisville College of Arts, where they have compulsory English (mixed Lang and Lit), Maths and History + three or occassionally four creative subjects:

Vie von Vogelblut- a vampire who suffered similar trauma to Dahlia, being thrown out of the vampire realm due to disownment. he lives with his equally disowned aunt and her daughter, Rouge, who while technically his cousin, is more like his older sister. Rouge is four years older than him, twenty-one, and also goes to that army uni thing that the Krieger triplets go to. Vie is somewhat childhood friends with Dahlia, he's basically her second brother, she's his second sister. he takes Hair and Makeup, German, Creative Writing and Theatre

Raphael- a fairy who was immediately adopted into the group by the extroverted Dahlia and ends up being very good friends with Vie. Raffi takes Drawing and Painting, Photography and Arabic

Clarissa- a fiery fairy who's besties with Dahlia, frenemies with Vie. idk what she takes yet

Alexandrite- a witch who's particularly gifted with elemental magic. takes Drawing and Painting, Sculpture and Photography

Nora- a fairy who's rather wary of flying due to being visually impaired and there being less to feel in the air. she has a Golden Retriever called Leo as a service animal and she takes Violin, Creative Writing and Song Writing

Natalie and Amaryllis- a pair of fairy sisters who've been through some crap (father lured to death by a demon). they both get along well with Vie. apart from her sister and Vie, Amy's only friends with Dahlia and Alexandrite due to severe social anxiety and Nat's much more outgoing and on very good terms with most in college. Amy and Nora also wanted to be friends due to having similar fashion sense, however, there was a communication barrier due to Nora's visual impairment and Amy being selectively mute (so Nora wouldn't be able to read what Amy writes but at the same time, Amy's unable to speak to her) but!! they both decide to learn Morse code (Amy taps her messages onto Nora's hand) so they eventually get to get along. idk all the subjects the sisters take yet, but Nat does Photography as one of them and Amy takes Hair and Beauty (same class as Vie)

oh yeah i forgot about Dion- Clarissa's cousin, just kind of a bitch really

there's more but aaaaaaa i think. i've gone insane enough

[thyandrawrites]

I just read your Fuyumi character analysis and it made me see her in a totally different light. I was one of the people that thought she was easily forgiving her father and forcing her siblings to do the same but after reading your analysis I realized that was wrong. I see now that she isn’t selfish as I first thought. I can see that her actions are more of defense and self preservation than forgiveness and it made me feel some sort of appreciation for her struggles and her love for her siblings.

So I wanted to ask if you had a Rei character analysis because I would love to read it. Your analysis are awesome.

Hi! Thank you for taking the time to read my Fuyumi post. I’m pleased to hear you found it an interesting read, and I can only be glad if it gave you some food for thought on a character I love so much :’) 

To answer your question, I haven’t written anything extensive on Rei yet, and certainly not anything solely focused on her. Because of how little screen time she gets, I find it much harder to get a cohesive read of her goals and motivations. Her lack of backstory and internal narration leave a lot of unanswered questions. But I wanted to thank you for asking about her anyway, because your ask gave me a push to try and get something together. It won’t be as thorough as my other todofam meta, and it will contain a lot of guessing, but I’m putting it out there anyway. Maybe I’ll add more to it later on, if we ever get some more info on her. 

On Rei, and the double-edged sword of Choices

As the title prefaces, Rei puts a lot of importance on making your own choices. Despite the fact that she’s often depicted as having little agency, a core belief of hers seems to be that even when your options are limited, you can make the most of them and find happiness by confidently choosing your path forward, and sticking to it through the end. 

[more under the cut]

It’s because of this mindset that she’s able to see marrying Enji as her own informed choice. From her perspective, she didn’t agree to it because of external pressure from her family, but rather because Rei wanted this for the Himuras’ sake. Now, whether this is entirely true or not, and she was “sold off” for money and prestige like Touya says, we don’t know for sure. But for the purpose of this speculation, it's not really important to determine whose choice the arranged marriage really was; what matters is that Rei thinks she walked into it by her free will. 

What she says to Shouto here (read right to left) gives us a little more insight. This is her response to Shouto's fear that his circumstances (=being trained by a cruel person) will dictate the outcome of his actions. 

Essentially, Shouto's scared of going along with Enji's will, because he doesn't want Enji to make him into the type of hero who hurts others. And Rei steps in and tells him, "it's okay, you wouldn't end up like that, because being a hero is something you want for yourself, not just to crown Enji's aspirations. You wouldn’t be a puppet in his hands that does what he wants, but your own person pursuing your own goals. Keep your eyes firmly set on the man you want to become, and you will get there." 

Envisioning the future you want to achieve is the crucial part here. When the proposal of an arranged marriage was on the table, Rei tells us she didn't have many options in front of her. In that sense, she too was limited by her circumstances and by her blood. But she agreed to it, and I quote, "hoping, if nothing else, that [she] would keep smiling." In other words, Rei might not have wanted to marry Enji, per se, but maybe she wasn't as opposed to the idea of making a family of her own. A part of her thought she'd still find happiness (maybe even fulfillment) as a wife and a mother. 

And at least at the beginning, I think she might've been, too. Happy, that is. At the very least, she loved her children. Back then, Enji was still an… okay father. He planned to live vicariously through his children, and that's not the ideal mindset behind having a child, but he had yet to act on it; the family dynamics weren't as tense and toxic as they become the longer he went without achieving his ambitions. Fuyumi's birth wasn't planned as a replacement like her younger siblings, a demand from a man obsessed with his goals. It was Rei’s idea to conceive her, to give little Touya a sibling close in age so that they could support each other. 

What this tells us is that even if Rei knew she was expected to bear Enji’s children, up to that point, she still had a vision of a future where her kids were healthy and fulfilled, and Rei too, with them. Thus, she actively took the initiative to make the family a happy nest despite the not so happy circumstances behind the union itself. 

Then Enji starts growing more and more obsessed with an heir, and Rei starts properly fearing her husband.

This is where things get complicated, and also when Rei betrays her beliefs. As I went over, she puts a lot of weight into making your own choices, but when Enji’s temper gets worse and worse and he stops asking, Rei begins surrendering to his will. This, despite knowing how Touya will see right through the intent behind Natsuo’s conception, and realize they are finally replacing him. 

To her credit, Rei does attempt to protest, to stand her ground. She’s not unkind, and she doesn’t want to cause unjust suffering to her kid. She's aware that being replaced will crush him, and that knowing so and persisting anyway is cruel of them. But for someone who values choices so much, she chooses to stay. She could’ve walked away with the kids and gotten out of dodge. That wouldn’t have stopped Enji, of course, he could’ve gotten married again, but she wouldn’t have been an accomplice. 

I want to make clear that this is not me condemning her for being too scared to oppose Enji in any substantial way. It’s the story itself that draws attention to this. Touya spells out her complicity, and it’s something we are asked to take notice of. Despite trying her best, Rei is depicted as a flawed mother who made mistakes as well, particularly in raising Touya. 

It’s subtle, but it’s there, and this line here is particularly telling. We know that Touya pushes back against the idea that Rei had the option to say no to marrying Enji. Since she was poor, and her family needed it, Touya states that she only had the illusion of a choice. Agreeing to it was an inevitability. Like training until he can be stronger than All Might was inevitable for him, too. 

Now, Touya thinks of it that way because has a sharply different mindset than her. From his perspective, both him and his mother have no other options than to perform the role they’re thrown into. While Rei thinks she’s responsible for her decisions, Touya reckons there was only ever one path in front of her (and him), aka that of bearing the burden of one's legacy. By being born into an impoverished family that used to have prestige and power, Rei’s destiny was already written for her. Just like how, by being born as Endvr’s son, Touya’s fate was already decided as well. This fits into his idea of predestination, of the straight or warped tracks he mentions to Shouto. 

So Touya frames Rei as someone lacking agency, someone who cannot change the tracks of her life. He does it to make a point about himself, to state that doesn’t have any alternatives, either. But his word choice happens to be… brutally ironic. 

When he says “you had no choice” in the panel above, in Japanese he’s echoing his dad. 

Specifically, he’s echoing Enji when he said he “had no choice but” to have more children. Nominally, to make Touya stop training in secret. In truth, to have a more suitable heir who could beat All Might. 

I'm not sure if Touya's wording itself is intended as a callback, but the fact that he accuses Rei of "being guilty too" in that same scene makes me think we're supposed to think of it anyway. 

We know that somewhere after Touya snapped at Rei here, she had just as much of a hard time facing him as her husband did. The given reason is that she sees Enji in her children, and her fear paralyzes her and makes her slip away a little more every day, until her eventual breaking point. But I think that there was another component at play here: guilt. 

If we assume that in that moment Rei was thinking of Enji's stubbornness—as it's hinted at by her equating their narrowed, angry eyes—then Touya's words might've hit a nerve there. 

Mind you, this is very much unconfirmed, so I could be completely wrong about it. But notice how it's only after Enji mentions All Might that she drops all protests. Before, the topic was Touya's wellbeing, and the morality of inflicting this onto an innocent child who just wanted his father's attention. But the second Rei is abruptly reminded of the reason behind this contract between her and Enji, the goal of producing a fitting heir who will beat his rival, we see her expression shift. She's no longer frantic, she's stricken. A bead of sweat rolls down her face, like she's digesting this. Realizing what it means, what will happen. 

Of course, we could attribute this to fear; she could be seeing Enji's true colors for the first time, or realizing that nothing she can say will ever stop him. That has been my interpretation so far. But what if there was more? 

What if she felt pressured, similarly to how she might've felt pressured by the Himuras' circumstances, and ended up folding and defaulting to do what was expected of her as a result? And then calling it her decision, despite how it’s clearly not what she wanted? 

Psychologically, it would make sense. It's not too hard to make the jump from "I walked into this myself. It was my choice" to "I chose this life. It is on me. I can't pretend I didn't know what my role in it would be, and I have to play it."

If Rei fell for that kind of reasoning, maybe even subconsciously, it could help make sense of why, despite witnessing the worsening of the abuse and of her own mental state, she clings to her hope of eventual happiness for years. Or why, despite having been complicit in punishing Touya with two more replacements, she still doubles down on her belief about the importance of choices, enough so that she passes it down to Shouto. Like allowing Touya to be hurt like that wasn't also a deliberate act; she took part in it knowing the harm that would follow, so ethically speaking, she can't hide behind a lack of better alternatives. She can't deny ownership of her actions by claiming she was blinded by foolishness, like Enji later does. That, too, was a choice, but since Rei cannot bear this weight, I think she coped with it by telling herself it was part of her duty, of her role, and thus accepted it as an inevitability, too. Something that she surrendered to because her "options were limited" to quote her rationalizing of things. It would be a defense mechanism of sorts.  

If a part of her justifies what they did as part of her marital contract, then she can frame it as something she had to endure for the sake of her family, too. In the process, she can avoid the guilt attached. 

But when Touya calls this out, she cracks, face stricken in fear, and she cannot say anything to defend herself. He sees through her, and she cowers from it. His self-awareness makes it impossible for her to soothe him with easy words like she later does with Shouto. She has no legs to stand on. Her words ring empty, and she knows it. A lie to keep up the pretense of being in control.

Though Rei had entered this situation hoping she would find happiness somehow, the truth is that she hasn't been happy in years. She's exhausted, jaded, wrung out. The family she had pictured doesn't match the broken one she can't keep together despite her best efforts. So, what use was walking into this of her own accord, with her own agenda (however simple), if she couldn't make the most of it, and instead ended up succumbing under the impossible weight of her role? 

By then, Enji had given up on even pretending to be involved in Touya's life. He was similarly neglectful to his other children as well. And by giving in to his demands for more kids, Rei co-signed the destruction of whatever normalcy they could've ever hoped to achieve, because Touya knew exactly what they'd done and why, and it made him restless. By the time a fitting replacement came around, the family was as good as gone, and with it, Rei's aspirations. 

But acknowledging this means acknowledging her agency in it. And she can't. She can't look Touya in the eyes and insist again about how many other paths are available to him aside from becoming a hero. Not when Touya pointed out that she had paths, too, and still walked the one written in the tracks of her life. 

In this light, her avoidance of Touya from then on mirrors Enji’s. She's running away from facing things about herself she doesn't want to confront, things that Touya brings to the forefront of her mind by being their unfortunate victim and byproduct. 

Interestingly, though, Rei later shows a bit more of a willingness to face the past. 

Shouto's influence helps her in that sense. When he finds the courage to reconnect with her, despite how he should've hated her, she gets a taste of what actually sticking with your choices means. And it spurs her onto action herself. 

As a child, Shouto told her that he didn't want to become the kind of person who would hurt her. He already believed in kindness, and aspired to be a hero who rescued others, like All Might was shown doing in that TV interview Shouto was watching with Rei. But then Rei was hospitalized, and she spent ten-ish years away from Shouto, thinking the entire time that he resented her for having burnt him. 

In truth, Shouto was simply afraid of meeting her. Since he saw himself as the cause of her mental break, he feared that his visit would be unwelcome, or maybe that she would get worse because of him. But in the end, he pushed through those fears and went to the hospital, and then kept coming back and writing letters with the purpose of reconnecting. Shouto could've easily kept things as they were, but he decided to confront her, to seek a conversation, to seek healing. He didn't want to leave those loose ends unaddressed, or to hide behind his insecurities, his anxieties. Shouto was obviously afraid of rejection, of facing her and finding out she still saw his father in him. He was trembling when he arrived at the hospital that first time. But that didn't deter him. Like his mother told him to do all those years ago, he firmly set his eyes on the man he wanted to become, and that man was someone who had a relationship with his mother again. 

When Rei witnesses that unshaking resolve, that determination to stay true to himself and his choices, she becomes stronger as a result. 

She finally faces Enji, despite admitting to still being afraid of him not too long before. 

And when the topic of Shouto's scar comes up, she owns up to it. Her expression is serious, unflinching. She's not feeling sorry for herself the way she looked away from Touya, eyes downcast and expression laced with visible guilt. 

That's a step towards healing for her. Burning Shouto wasn't a conscious action on her part (it was a fight or flight response to fear), but the fact that she is willing to look head on at the past instead of avoiding it is a nod in the right direction. 

Before, she let that vision of a happy future slip away from her. She let herself be swept by her circumstances, and lost sight of herself in the process. 

Losing sight of yourself because of said circumstances is an idea that gets explored through Shouto as well, by the way. To further underline it. Shouto, too, temporarily let his family situation cloud his vision and push him off his original path. For a handful of years, he was too angry, too bitter and resentful to remember that the things that had motivated him to become a hero was kindness and compassion. He almost nearly becomes cruel like Enji. But remembering himself, setting his eyes on the kind of man he originally wanted to become, puts him back on track. Thanks to that, he's able to successfully rescue Iida from Stain. 

Similarly, Rei's misstep is letting her fear get the best of her, and letting herself forget that happiness was still within her reach. Because of that, her challenge is to fix that and face Touya again. In that sense, she can prove she has a choice. She isn't there just to provide the ice genes to make the perfect kid. She still has the power to create a family that isn't dysfunctional, if she commits to the idea that choices were never about making the most of limited options and adverse fate, but rather sticking to your guns and making your future happen despite those adverse circumstances. 

Her challenge, then, is to make a family that will be happy for real. With Touya as an integral part of it, this time.