The man's eyes widened.

“Abbassate le armi, lo conosco”

The policemen turned to him in surprise. They lowered their guns slightly.

“Ma-”

The glare of the officer in the cardigan silenced the lone protester. The other officers exchanged glances, but obeyed anyway.

The officer waved me over.

“What is your hierarchical position in relation to Teka?

His Japanese was choppy, but not unintelligible.

“I'm her grandson”

He studied me from head to toe, then pulled out his cell phone.

His caller picked up on the first ring. The officer walked away and spoke in a low voice, still in Japanese.

The other cops watched me uncertainly, their eyes darting between what was left of Muscular and me.

One of them had a hand on the handcuffs dangling from his waist. An ambulance, sirens blaring, sped down the street.

It slowed to avoid getting stuck behind the hastily parked police cars, then resumed its frantic race to the right, where the couple had fled. I walked away from the scene. The policemen became agitated.

“Ehi, dove credi di andare ?”

I sat on a dry tree trunk, hands in my pockets, eyes glued to the sunrise.

How can I justify walking more than 25 kilometers from the villa ?

*

My father looked at me; I looked at my father.

Behind us, Teka, wearing sunglasses and a fur coat, was talking to the chief of police, who had woken up for the occasion.

I didn't have to turn around to see how uncomfortable the policemen were with the half dozen armed 'civilians' accompanying grandma Todoroki.

It was six o'clock in the morning, and I knew that everyone on this beach should hate me for forcing them to get up so early on a Sunday.

“What ?”

My father sat down next to me and looked at the horizon.

“For both of our sakes, I'm not going to ask you to explain how you ended up so far from home at five in the morning”

“It's a shame. I thought of an excellent excuse”

A small smile curled his lips.

“If you're finding the energy to joke, it's because all this” He pointed vaguely at the body on the stretcher, the coroner and the policemen “Must not have shocked you too much”

I shrugged.

“I've seen worse”

I've done worse.

“It's nothing to be proud of”

The comment, combined with the bitter tone, surprised me.

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“What do you mean ?”

“That you're ten years old”

He looked down at me.

My shoulders tensed.

I looked away.

“I didn't really have a choice, did I ?”

My tone was sharper than I intended, but I didn't regret it.

“I know”

He sighed.

“I worry about you, you know ?”

The sentimental tone of the conversation took me by surprise.

“Worry ? Why should you ? There is no reason to be”

I now had my special fuinjutsu sharingan.

If some organization didn't try to run over the next car I was in with a tank, I should be able to get away with nearly anything thrown at me.

“It wasn't exactly the kind of life I'd imagined for you”

His face was calm, but his eyes gave him away.

“What are you talking about ?”

He didn't seem the least bit convinced.

“We're richer than Cresus, I have a grandmother who runs her own evil empire and a father who slaughters villains as a part-time job”

I pointed to the sea, the beach, the sky and everything else.

“I've just learned that we're some kind of unofficial royal family and that we own a country”

I continued to rant.

“My last bodyguards were modern vampires who don't even burn in the sun”

I'd tried to drive a stake through Emmett's chest once, and the stake had broken.

“I don't know any ten-year-olds with more interesting live than mine”

I forced myself to look him straight in the eye to underline my point.

He studied me for a few seconds, then turned back to the sea.

Reflections of gold and fire shimmered across the ocean. The clouds were drenched in red, orange, and pink.

“Did I ever told you why I became a hero ?”

I shook my head, intrigued.

His gaze wandered.

His blue eyes reflected the glowing sea, giving the impression that his pupils were on fire.

“When I was a little older than you, between seventeen and eighteen, my father died”

He was silent for a second, as if gathering his thoughts.

“He was a good man. The best of men. Where your grandmother taught me to be firm, he taught me to be generous”

A cool wind came up.

“He liked to believe that there was something fundamentally good in every human being, something that allowed us to rise above our fleeting, individualistic condition”

His voice grew thick with emotion.

“He helped me see the best in myself, even on my worst days. Without him, I wouldn't be a quarter of the man I am today”

I thought about the man who had meant so much to my father and who seemed as distant as a dream and as intangible as a mirage.

“When he died, I wanted to honor his memory. I tried to be a quarter of the man he was, to live a life he would be proud of. Being a hero was my solution.

Sometimes I wonder if I succeeded”

For a second, his eyes went glassy. I wondered if he was thinking of Touya.

“As I told you, I won't ask you why or how you ended up on this beach”

I opened my mouth and he gestured me to be quiet.

“But I want you to be sure of one thing, Shoto. Whatever happens, whatever you do, know that I will always, always be on your side”

What I saw in his eyes made me freeze.

Pure, unconditional love.

“You're my son, Shoto. Nothing you can do in the future can ever change that”

My heart was beating so fast that I could hear the blood pounding in my ears.

He knows.

The wording, the way he'd brought up the subject…

He knew that if I had to choose between my life and a stranger's, I'd choose mine.

He understood that between my interests and the common good, I would always choose myself first.

He'd deciphered me, studied me, dissected me, seen my lack of morals, known my selfishness, had a very good idea of how far I'd go when it came to my survival.

And yet he loved me.

Is that how a parent should love his child ?

A wave of shyness washed over me.

“You're a good boy. I'm proud that you're my son, Shoto”

I froze.

Heat rose to my face as I frantically folded and unfolded my fingers, my eyes glued to the sand between my shoes.

It was strange because in my previous life, no one in my family had ever told me they were proud to be of the same blood as me.

Of course, my mother had a satisfied smile when I brought home my first million, and my father had a look that said 'that's my boy', but no one had ever told me they were proud of me as a person, as if it wasn't worth it.

And now I had Enji Todoroki, my father, who I'd considered just an accessory when

I was given this new life, telling me how proud he was that I shared his blood.

I didn't know if it was true, but I liked to think that my father's judgment was reliable: maybe even if I closed my eyes hard enough, I would come to believe that I really was this fundamentally good person he was talking about.

Before him, no one had ever believed in me the way he did, and it was- it was-

I looked up at him, and the way he looked at me-that soft, warm gaze, filled with pure, unconditional fatherly love that saw only the best in me-it was-it was-

I lowered my head, letting my hair fall back over my forehead to hide my face from his gaze.

“Stop saying things like that," I mumbled shyly.

However, a slight smile formed on my lips and I closed my eyes for a moment, feeling a gentle warmth radiate into my heart.

Rather than talk, I was content to enjoy this beautiful early summer day, the sun caressing my skin and the waves licking my shoes, hoping that this moment could last forever.