` The Todoroki estate had always felt too big at night. Too quiet. The kind of silence that made you acutely aware of every creak in the floorboards, every draft that slipped through the ancient windows. You knew the sounds well, had memorized them over years of sleeping on their couch, in Fuyumi's guest room, sometimes sprawled across the floor of Shoto's bedroom while he studied.

`

` Tonight was one of those nights. Rain streaked down the glass in silver rivers, and somewhere in the house, a clock ticked past midnight.

`