The girls of Class 1B had given her a lot to think about. They'd all continued acting strangely throughout the day and stuck to her like glue. They forced her into conversation between classes and when the day had ended she found them, along with some of the boys, crowding around her desk wanting to talk to her. It was unsettling...but she didn't necessarily dislike it. Though they were all, most certainly, annoying, she didn't mind their presence or their pestering behavior.

The cast iron kettle in front of her began to squeal and spit steam. Oblivious to the steaming kettle, Kiyo continued analyzing her classmates' actions throughout their interactions during the day. Why were they all so determined to force their friendship on her? What exactly did Kendo mean her words had been a cry for help?

"Kiyo? I think the water is done." Fuyumi called to her as she stepped into the kitchen to see why the kettle was screaming for so long.

Startled from her thoughts, Kiyo reached forward and gripped the cast iron handle with her bare right hand.

"KIYO!" Fuyumi panicked and picked up a towel as she raced to her youngest sibling's aid. She wrenched the kettle from her hand, nearly dropping it as it burned her through the towel, it was so scalding. She dropped it atop a hot plate and grabbed Kiyo's pale wrist in her hand.

Kiyo stared at her older sister in awe. Why did she do that?

"Let me see, how bad is it?" Fuyumi panicked.

Kiyo unclenched her fist exposing her unscathed hand.

Fuyumi breathed a sigh of relief, "thank heavens you're not hurt."

Kiyo frowned. Why would it matter if she had been? She wasn't their father's masterpiece, it didn't matter if any of them got hurt. Shoto was the only one who mattered...the only one who would ever matter.

Her heterochromatic orbs fell on the red mark forming on Fuyumi's palm as she dropped the towel. "You burned yourself." She noted absently.

Kiyo frowned once more. Fuyumi burned herself because she thought she was in danger and rushed to her aid. Feeling somewhat guilty for worrying her older sister, Kiyo left the kitchen. Fuyumi stared after her, not sure why she'd suddenly taken off. She finished making the tea for dinner and was surprised when Kiyo returned and set a small jar of burn cream and a bandage on the counter before taking the finished tea out to the dining room.

Fuyumi smiled as she picked up the burn cream. Her brothers often liked to joke that Kiyo was a robot, and while the youngest Todoroki could often appear unfeeling, Fuyumi knew it wasn't true. If anything, Kiyo felt more than any of them did. She applied the burn cream to the burn on her palm and covered it with a bandage before joining her siblings in the dining room for dinner.

"Everything okay?" Natsuo asked their elder sister as she took her seat. He threw a wary look at Kiyo wondering why Fuyumi had yelled at her before.

"Everything's fine." Fuyumi smiled.

They all grew tense as they heard the front door open. Their father had returned home unexpectedly early. He stepped into the dining room noting the scowls his sons were shooting in his direction.

"You're home early, we weren't expecting you." Fuyumi said softly. Despite her words, there was an extra setting laid out for him. Kiyo always prepared a place setting for him, though most nights it went untouched, it didn't deter her.

Kiyo quickly poured her father some tea as he took a seat at the table.

"I wanted to discuss the upcoming Sports Festival-." Enji began.

Kiyo perked up a little, though no one other than Shoto had noticed it.

"-with Shoto."

Kiyo felt the cold knife of rejection slip between her ribs and into her heart. She busied herself with dishing food onto their father's plate trying not to look hurt or rejected.

"I don't have anything to discuss with you." Shoto replied coolly, earning a dark look from his twin.

Enji suddenly glanced around as an all too familiar scent reached his nostrils. It was the smell of burn cream, had Shoto gotten hurt? "Who got burned?" He asked his children, his gaze fixed on Shoto. If one of the other's had hurt his masterpiece- he didn't finish his thought as Fuyumi slowly raised her hand.

"I did."

Enji relaxed, but asked nothing more.

"What? When?" Natsuo looked to Fuyumi's bandaged hand.

"Earlier, Kiyo grabbed the kettle with her hand. I thought she had hurt herself and grabbed a towel to pick it up, but it burned me through the towel." Fuyumi explained.

Shoto glanced up from his plate and shot his twin a look of concern, "are you hurt?"

Kiyo's gut reaction was to tell him she wasn't as weak as he was, but she immediately felt guilty as the thought crossed her mind when she looked at the scar on his face. Instead, she quietly held up her hand to show him that she was unscathed.

"It didn't burn you?" Shoto asked.

Kiyo shook her head. Unlike her elder brothers and even her father, she'd never been burned before.

"I knew you were a robot." Natsuo grumbled under his breath.

Kiyo ignored him and looked to her father, "you wanted to talk about the Sports Festival?"

"With Shoto." Her father turned away from her. He hadn't shown an ounce of concern that she might have been burned.

Shoto scowled at their father. "What?" His voice was dripping with disdain.

"I think it's time you stop your childish rebellion, you should have no trouble taking first place in the Sports Festival if you'd stop being stubborn and use your left side." Enji growled at his youngest son.

Kiyo forced herself to sit quietly and strained with all her might to keep her face a perfect mask. On the outside, she was composed...on the inside her heart was breaking. Fuyumi threw a worried look at the youngest Todoroki child as she pretended nothing was wrong and kept her perfect unaffected mask in place.

"...we'll be rooting for you too, Kiyo..." Fuyumi piped up softly hoping their father would realize what he'd said had been very insensitive to Kiyo.

"For what reason? Shoto will win, as he should." Enji huffed.

An icy knife of rejection stabbed into Kiyo's back. She didn't react. She wouldn't show weakness. Without touching her food, she politely bowed her head to her family. "If you'll excuse me, I have more training to do." She said softly as she pushed away from the table.

Her father said nothing, barely acknowledging her presence.

Shoto watched his twin walk away and felt his heart seize up in his chest as he saw, for the first time in his life, a single frozen tear slip from Kiyo's left eye. She wiped it away without anyone else noticing and exited the room.

Natsuo shot a scowl in their father's direction before grabbing his plate and leaving the table. "You're a real piece of work." He grumbled angrily as he left the room.

Fuyumi quietly excused herself from the table and raced to the training hall after Kiyo. She hesitated at the door to the training hall and her breath caught in her throat as a blinding blue light glowed from under the door. A gasp escaped her as the handle of the door suddenly glowed hot, the temperature inside the room must be insane.

"K-Kiyo?!" Fuyumi called in concern.

The blue light faded away and a moment later the door swung open. Fuyumi paled as she saw Kiyo gripping a glowing hot door handle. "Yes?" She asked in her quiet composed voice.

"Are you alright?" Fuyumi stared at the glowing handle warily.

"I'm fine." Kiyo offered her a curt nod.

Fuyumi began to wonder if her youngest sibling had ever truly been fine. She was starting to think this perfect routine of Kiyo's was just an act. "...it's okay if you're not fine, you always have your big sister to talk to."

"I'm fine." Kiyo repeated coolly. Her gaze fell on the bandage on Fuyumi's hand and she was overcome with guilt. It was her fault Fuyumi had been injured. "Is your hand alright?" Her voice came out no louder than a whisper.

Fuyumi smiled, she detected a faint hint of concern in Kiyo's voice, "it's much better now, thank you for the burn cream."

Kiyo nodded but said nothing more. She slowly closed the door and went back to her training. Fuyumi let out a sigh as the blue light returned and the handle began to glow hot once more.

"I wish you'd open up to me." Fuyumi sighed softly, not sure if her voice had reached the teen or not.