[ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴀɪɴ ] - 𝙨. 𝙩𝙤𝙙𝙤𝙧𝙤𝙠𝙞

【 𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙠 𝙔𝙤𝙪. 】

When I see Endeavor approaching as we exit the facility, I avert my eyes to the ground.

"Shoto, long time no see. You've changed a lot."

"I don't want to hear it."

I slap my hand to my mouth and spin on my heel, looking away entirely. A moment of silence follows before Endeavor breaks through it. "Shoto... I'm proud of you, son. So I'll become a hero that you can be proud of, too."

"Do what you want."

Inasa comes over after punching himself, with a nosebleed. "Endeavor, I'll be cheering you on!"

"Thanks. You're bleeding a lot."

I fold my arms and take a deep breath, looking back at Endeavor.

A few moments later, when we're heading to the bus, I stop and look up at the no. 1 hero, keeping my expression neutral, and he returns the gaze steadily. I narrow my eyes and let out a breath.

"Good luck."

He relaxes a little and smiles lightly.

"Thank you."

I nod to the flaming hero and stroll away, placing my hands in my blazer pockets while I end up falling in step beside my boyfriend.

I glance at him to see him smiling, and I move my hand to the top of his head and rub his hair. "You've grown, huh?"

"I guess so. Both me and him."

The corners of my lips tug upward. "Yeah. You know, for the first time since school started, the future looks pretty bright."

Shoto gently grabs my hand and I interlock my fingers with his. He turns his chin up to look at the reddening sky.

"I'm glad things turned out fine."

"What things exactly?"

"Your situation, your brother, my situation with my fire, my old man. Everything."

I tighten my grip on his hand. "I'm glad, too. Thank you for all that you've done."

He moves both our hands up and kisses the back of my hand. "Thank you, too."

I chuckle a little, "Since when are you so bold?"

"I'm not, I just felt like it." Shoto's smile widens the tiniest bit and he meets his eyes with mine. "Do you want to play Cardio Kart when we get back to the dorm?"

I blink once. Twice. "Oh, you mean Mario Kart, right? Sure."

"Huh? I thought you said Cardio."

"Honey, no."

This book was really great, I enjoyed writing it, and the end result may not be that good, but I'm proud of it. The main story is over but there may be a few bonus chapters up ahead in the future.

Thank you for reading In The Rain.