For as long as I could remember our family lives in fear of a single man. That man is my father and the current Number Two hero, Todoroki Enji.

My mother does not love this man. I know she tried, that much was obvious, but I cannot blame her for failing because even for me, sometimes I have trouble trying to see if my father had any good points at all. Even then, my mother had always showered me and my siblings with all the love she can afford to give and then more. I always admire her for it.

I know my family is messed up. I know it better than anyone else. I know my father is the cause of all the tension ongoing in this house. This house is not a home. Even then, I cannot help but hope that one day we can be a real family. I still hope that one day we can all sit around the same table and have a meal together with smiles and laughter on our faces.

That hope shattered when my father forcefully sent my mother away to a mental hospital. The cracks in the glass grew even bigger when my older brother passed away not long after.

Without our mother around to hold this family together, our family drifted even further apart. Shoto hates our father for what happened to him and our mother. The same goes for Natsuo. They all hate him with a burning passion and refuse to acknowledge him as our father.

I would be like them too if I didn't see him entering Toya's room that day and praying to the shrine built in remembrance of him. It was then that I realised that there may be some good left in that man after all.

Just this last time, I will try to accept him as my father. Everybody deserves a chance, that was what Mum taught me before she went insane.

I tried to see the good in the man that had instilled so much fear ever since I was born. He's driven. He does have a sense of responsibility for even if Toya, Natsuo, and I were "failures", he never disowned us or abandoned us, at least not truly. We never needed to worry about material needs or money. Anything we truly needed him to buy for us, he would never ask a single question and pay for it himself. Natsuo and Shoto see this as him being indifferent to our existence, that we are nothing but mere tools to him. He has nothing but money anyway, that was how they always rationalised.

I, however, choose to see this differently. Even if we are failures in his eyes, we are still his children and we are still his responsibility. He doesn't have an obligation to pay for me and Natsuo's university tuition fees but he still did so anyway. When we were young and Mum wasn't around, whenever we were sick the first thing he did was to send someone to bring us to the doctor. He never brought us there himself, but the fact is he did care about us to a certain extent. Somewhere deep down, he still views us as his children and for that alone, I know that there is something still redeemable about him.

Or at least, that is what I choose to think. Like what Mum had tried to do, to see the good in him, I want to try too. Where Mum had failed, I want to pick up from there and continue where she had left off.

I want to try and believe that my father, Todoroki Enji, can be a father that I am proud of. I want to try and believe that there will be a day where I can confidently tell others that he is my father and that I am proud to be his daughter, that I am the daughter of the Flame Hero Endeavour.

I know that nothing will ever excuse his behaviour. Far from it. I am still of the opinion that no matter what he does in the future to redeem himself, if he ever chooses to do so, still does not erase his mistakes. What's done has been done. Because of him, Mum has been denied the life she could have lived and wasted half her life trying to protect us and her sanity. Because of him, we, his children, had been denied the childhood and familial love that we rightfully deserve. All of this, there's no making up for it. That is a fact.

Even then, I still dream of a day where we could sit around the same table and eat a meal together with smiles on our faces. It may very well end up as a pipedream, I know, but I can hope.

After Mum had left it was up to me to hold the family together. There's no one else. Toya passed away. Natsuo and Shoto both hate our father and let's not talk about the man of the hour himself. There's only me left.

And so, I tried. I tried to be the motherly figure that Natsuo and Shoto need in their lives. Toya is gone, forever. He will no longer be around and as the second oldest, it is now up to me to hold this family together.

For Mum, for Toya, for Natsuo and Shoto and even for father, for my dream, I want to try. Toya may not be around anymore but I want to be able to see the day where we could finally sit around the same table and eat a meal together with smiles on our faces. It's harder than it sounds because some wounds just don't heal that easily.

It may be because of my experience in growing up in such a dysfunctional family that I ended up choosing to be a teacher. Throughout my childhood some of my happiest times were when I was in school, away from all the fear and domestic violence at home. I know how important a happy experience at school can be for some children so I decided to be a teacher. I know that for some, school is a place where they can escape from whatever troubles them at home, a temporary refuge that they can look forward to seeking shelter five times a week.

My father didn't question nor did he say a word when I told him that I will be a teacher. His only response was to grunt out an acknowledgement before he left for his hero work. I had no idea what to think about it. I do not know if he was truly indifferent to whatever I choose to do with my life or if he actually cares about me. My quirk does not allow me to read minds.

But when a set of whiteboard markers in different colours appeared on the desk in my bedroom the next morning from literally out of nowhere, I know that somewhere deep down, that man who I used to fear and still fear to a certain extent does care for me. I know it wasn't Natsuo or Shoto who gave me this gift because I had asked if it was them, and I know it couldn't be Mum because she's at the hospital, so it could only be him, our father.

That set of whiteboard markers is proof that he still treats me as his daughter. That is more than enough for me. That is more than enough for me to know that my dream can still come true. One day, it may come true and we can all sit down and have a meal together.

It's hard sometimes. It's hard to keep going and be the only one who truly wants to keep the family together, to be the only one who truly wants to see the entire family together once again. It's hard to convince Natsuo and Shoto that our father is not as bad as he seems because they are entitled to their opinions too. It is true that we had all suffered under him, that I cannot deny. It is true that in some ways, Toya's death is his fault. It is true that Mum became like this because of him. It is true that our family is not a family because of his actions.

But it is also true that what is important is not in the past, but in how we choose to move forward. At least, that is what I believe in. I still choose to believe that my father is a good man despite the ugly side he showed when we were younger. He's the Number Two hero, a hero who has saved countless lives in his career. There is some good in that. It takes more than just skills and talents to hold the Number Two position for just as long as All Might held the Number One spot. You need passion and conviction to be able to do so in that line of work. He must have some good in him to be Number Two for so long.

For that, I truly respect him. He may not be the Number One hero, but for that tenacity and conviction alone, my father is the Number One in my heart, even if he had been nothing but an abusive father and husband in my younger years.

Getting Shoto and Natsuo to forgive him and move ahead is still a work in progress. Like Shoto said, not everything can be forgiven. Even then, I'm starting to see hope again. Ever since All Might stepped down, little by little, our father is trying to change for the better. He is trying to make up for what he has done. He is trying to be a better man for our sake. He is trying to redeem himself.

And I cannot be any happier. Not just for myself, not just for this family, but for him too.

I'm not entirely sure what Mum thinks of father. Their relationship is complicated. I knew for a fact that Mum used to hate him but as to whether that hate still lingers today, I have no idea. I knew for a fact that Mum had tried loving him but whether she did love him at any point in time is something I could never confirm. I knew for a fact that my father did try to make up for what he had done to her even if they never met for the past ten years. I knew he must have visited her when she was asleep and Mum did say she did receive gifts from him every now and then, so he must have felt something for her.

I just know that things are starting to look better. My dream of having my family sit down around the same table and eat a meal together, happily, does not look like a pipedream now.

I still have no idea if my dream would remain as a pipedream or if it will become a reality. Like what I had been doing since I was a child, I can only hope. My father is the Number One hero now. He has become a better hero and is trying to be a better person. He had always been the type who lets his actions speak for themselves. I can only hope that his actions can one day touch the hearts of my siblings and my mother, the people who he had wronged.

I won't deny that my father used to be the worst kind of person, but I also won't deny the efforts he had been putting into to make things right again. Like I had always done, I can only hope.

I can only hope that one day, we can finally sit around the same table and have a proper meal together. Happily. All of us.

Together.