"Enji, are you sure it's a good idea?" Rei asked softly.

"I don't know... I don't know what to do anymore...nothing seems to be helping...I thought a change of scenery might do her a little good." Enji replied, his voice deflated. The Todoroki family had been trying for days to get Tira to open up.

After the fireworks she'd become withdrawn. She sat in her room all day long blankly staring out the window. Natsuo and Fuyumi took turns checking on her throughout the day and making sure she moved her sitting position so she wouldn't start developing pressure sores from staying in the same spot for too long.

"Will you have the time to watch her? Won't you be busy?" Rei asked, feeling unsure.

Tira blinked as she realized she could hear her parents talking nearby. She turned her head slowly, her body seeming stiff and not as mobile as usual. She jumped as she spotted her parents in her bedroom looking at her in concern.

"Is dinner ready?" She asked distantly, wondering if they'd come to get her for dinner as they had been doing everyday to make sure she left her room at least once a day.

"Tira, honey, it's morning." Rei frowned before throwing a worried look to her husband.

"...oh..." Tira resumed staring out the window.

Enji let out a sigh before awkwardly going to sit next to her at the window. "Tira?"

She turned to him, her eyes filled with grief and heartache.

"I have to go to a conference over the weekend, I'd like it if you attended it with me." Enji spoke up softly.

"You want me to go?" Tira asked, confused.

"Yes, it's a big event and I-..." he paused not sure how to phrase it in a way that would make her want to go. He wasn't good at asking for help, even after years of therapy sessions.

"...need emotional support?" Tira offered.

"Exactly." Enji agreed.

Tira hesitated. He did look nervous, he'd just become the number one hero after all. "...okay... I'll go with you..."

"Thank you." Enji offered her a faint smile, but it went unnoticed as she'd resumed her staring. He let out another defeated sigh before getting to his feet.

Rei threw him a worried look. He hadn't answered her questions.

"I'll ask Burnin to come along, she can keep an eye on her when I'm busy. I thought it might do her some good to get out of the house." He offered, though he'd also asked for selfish reasons. It was a big day for him and perhaps he really did need some emotional support from the one person in his family who still held any love for him. He'd have loved it if the whole family would attend but he didn't want to pressure Rei. Fuyumi would probably be willing to go but he also knew she'd probably rather be with her mother. Shoto was now in the dormitories at school and probably wouldn't want to be pulled away from his classmates or studies. Natsuo still wasn't speaking to him, though was getting better about sharing a dinner table with him, since Rei had come home.

Rei accepted his response, "alright. Fuyumi and I will take her shopping for a gown to wear."

Enji nodded, "alright...I'll see to it, you'll have a driver for the day...have fun..." He replied somewhat awkwardly before shuffling out of the room.

Rei smiled softly, she could see her husband was trying so hard to right all the wrongs he'd done. She wasn't quite sure she was ready to forgive him, not fully, but she no longer feared his presence or dreaded his company. It would take time but she could see them making amends. She looked to her catatonic daughter and gently smoothed her hair back.

"Tira?"

Tira looked up at her mother and offered her a strained smile, "is it time for dinner?" She asked again, having lost all concept of time in her catatonic state.

"No dear, it's still morning. Let's go shopping." Rei smiled gently.

Tira hesitated, "...okay..." She stiffly got to her feet and let her mother help her get dressed for the day. Twenty minutes later, though for all she knew it could have been three days later, Tira found herself in the back of a limo in a dull grey dress and white leggings between her mother and younger sister.

She just kept playing over her last moments with her twin on repeat in her mind's eye. The majority of the time when she slipped away she just saw Toya turning his back on her and walking away. It broke her heart each time.

"Tira?" Fuyumi called out softly and waved a hand in front of her elder sister's face trying to get her attention. The car had parked out front of the mall nearly five minutes ago and Tira was completely lost in her own thoughts.

Tira blinked slowly a few times before looking around. Her mother and younger sister offered her easygoing reassuring smiles. She could see the worry in their eyes and knew she must have been spacing out again. "Sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry for." They both reassured her simultaneously before gently ushering her out of the car.

Tira let them pull her from the car and trailed along behind them into the mall. Once they were sure Tira was responsive and following along, Rei and Fuyumi got to chatting about Fuyumi's work. Tira hesitantly surveyed her surroundings. The mall was a little too crowded.

A head of unruly dark hair caught her attention as they passed her by. She turned her head to see where they'd gone. Her heart pounded in her chest, was it Toya? She strained to look around and noticed the head of dark hair, in the crowd moving toward the exit. They were Toya's height! Was it him?! She pushed her way through the crowd and sprinted after them. As she shoved her way through the crowd she got a better look at their retreating form. They were wearing a long dark coat like Toya wore. Her heart skipped a beat in her chest as she was filled with excited anticipation at getting to see her twin. She ran faster, trying to catch up.

"Toya!" She called as she caught up and grabbed his arm. She felt nothing as she gripped his arm and tugged on it spinning him around to face her. A soft squeak escaped her as she realized the young man she'd practically accosted was not Toya. "Ah...sorry." She shrank back.

The young man looked like a university student and threw her a concerned look, "uh, are you alright, Miss?"

"Y-yeah...sorry, I thought you were someone else." She said shakily before running away back the way she'd come.

She tried to fight her way through the crowd of mall goers but without the drive to run after Toya, she was struggling to move. Without that drive, she couldn't push past anyone and found herself withdrawing and wanting to flee. She managed to get to the edge of the crowd and practically stumbled into a small employee hallway to get away from the crowd of people. She wrapped her arms around herself and slid to the ground, she'd lost her mother and sister.

As she was slumped on the ground feeling sorry for herself, she heard someone scream. She glanced in the direction of the scream in time to see a child fall from the second floor, only to be caught by a bright red feather. There was suddenly a loud uproar of cheering from the other mall goers and a lot of screaming from some teenage girls. Tira tuned out of all the screaming people and focused on the pretty bright red feather floating the child to safety. It was such a vibrant color, something she didn't see in her drab muted gray everyday life.

Once the feather and the child disappeared, the crowd began to calm a little and things returned to normal. Tira wrapped her arms around her legs and laid her head down atop her knees to wait until her mother and sister found her. She didn't want to brave the crowd again. A soft fluttering sound drew her attention. She looked ahead of her and felt a small smile tug at the corner of her lips as she spotted a dazzling bright crimson feather drifting in the air in front of her as if it were caught in a dance. Unconsciously she extended her hand toward it. It tickled the tip of her finger and a soft gasp escaped her as she realized she could feel it, it was soft and warm to the touch. She withdrew her hand in shock.

"It won't hurt you, I promise." A gentle voice sounded from the end of the hall.

Tira turned and spotted a young man who appeared to be around her age with perfectly tousled feathery ash blond hair, bright golden eyes and vibrant red wings. The lone feather that had caught her attention zoomed toward the handsome young man and seemed to get lost in his beautiful wings.

"Need a hand?" He asked her with a smile that made her stomach attempt a somersault. He extended a gloved hand toward her.

Tira hesitantly accepted the hand he offered her and let him help her to her feet. She felt the faintest warm sensation where she touched his gloved hand. It wasn't nearly as strong of a feeling as when she touched Toya, but somehow this stranger was able to make her feel, just a little.

"You saved that child..." Tira noted absently as she gazed at his bright wings.

"It's what I do." He chuckled and shifted his hold on her hand, instead, looping his arm through hers so he could help her get to wherever she needed to go.

"You're a hero?" Tira asked curiously.

He offered her a warm smile and nodded, "the name's Hawks."

"Tira?!" She heard her mother's voice sounding panicked. It didn't sound like it was too far away.

"Someone looking for you?" Hawks asked curiously as he noticed the timid girl jerk at the sound.

She nodded. "My mother and sister, we got separated."

"It's a pretty hectic day here, I can understand that." He said sincerely.

Tira smiled, he wasn't making fun of her for her behavior. He was warm and understanding and that made her feel unusually secure. She relaxed at his side. His wings gently brushed against her shoulder as he led her back to the public part of the mall. Hawks shivered as his wing grazed her, she felt cold.

"Are you warm enough?" He asked, concerned.

Tira looked to him curiously.

He removed his glove and held her hand in his. Tira felt a stronger sensation of warmth at his touch and looked to their connected hands in awe. Why could she feel this stranger? "You're cold as ice." Hawks looked worried.

Tira offered him a faint smile, "it's okay." She held her free hand palm up. Ice formed in her hand and shaped itself into a small hawk with a black core. She offered it to the handsome hero.

Hawks accepted the tiny frozen hawk figurine with a smile. "It'll be sad to see the little guy melt."

"It won't melt." Tira reassured him. Toya was the only one capable of melting it.

"That's impressive."

"Tira!" Fuyumi ran toward them with her mother and a mall security guard at her heels. She paused as she spotted Tira on the young hero's arm and the small smile on her elder sister's lips. Tira was talking to a stranger! She couldn't remember the last time that had happened.

"I guess I'm not needed here anymore." Hawks offered Tira another suave smile and released her from his hold.

Tira felt the absence of his presence the moment he let go as she stopped being able to feel anything. She looked to him as he was about to retreat and called out to him before she could stop herself, "Hawks....will you be at the hero conference this weekend?" She asked shyly.

He turned to her with another smile that made her stomach attempt somersaults again, "I will. Will I see you there?"

Tira nodded.

"Well, now I'm looking forward to it." Hawks smiled.

Tira felt her heart flutter in her chest.

"See you around, Ice Queen." He offered her a bow and another suave smile before taking his leave.

Tira watched him go with a small smile on her lips.

"Everything alright here?" The mall security guard asked her mother and sister. They both nodded too stunned by what they'd just witnessed. Realizing nothing was amiss the mall security guard bid them farewell.

"Tira?" Fuyumi gently looped her arm through her sister's arm.

"Sorry for getting separated...I thought I saw-...." She trailed off.

"It's alright, honey. We're just glad you're alright." Her mother reassured her before steering them in the direction of a dress store.

"Who was that way cute hero you were talking to?" Fuyumi asked with a grin. This was promising and quite possibly the perfect distraction to keep Tira from getting depressed about the situation with Toya.

"He said his name was Hawks." Tira said softly as she thought of the moment she'd touched the single feather and been able to feel. She could still feel the sensation of warmth on the tip of her finger. "He was soft and warm." She said absently as she looked to her fingers.

Her mother and sister paused and looked at her.

"You were able to feel something?" Rei asked.

Tira nodded.

"Can you still?" Fuyumi pondered.

Tira shook her head.

"That must have been nice." Rei smiled, "he seems like a nice young man."

Tira nodded.

Realizing she was done talking, Fuyumi and Rei steered her toward the dress store. Once inside, Tira seemed to withdraw again. Her mother and sister ushered her to a small seating area while trying to decide the best way to tackle shopping while keeping her under observation.

They took turns sitting with her while the other would search for a dress to offer for her approval. All the dresses they brought to her were muted greys and drab pale blues, the same boring colors she was always surrounded in. Tira got to her feet, leaving the small seating area and explored the racks on her own. Her mother and sister trailed along behind her trying not to interfere.

A bright red dress caught her eye. She picked it up and examined it for a moment before turning to her mother and sister for their approval. "Is this okay?"

Fuyumi grinned, the dress was vibrant and fiery, "I like it."

Rei smiled, it was a similar color to the feathers of the young winged hero, "it's beautiful, why don't you try it on to make sure it fits."