The Story Of Us (Todobaku)

Soba

Getting Katsuki ready for school that morning was not an easy task.

It was the first day of school after the winter holiday. It was a new year, and possibly Katsuki's most anticipated yet. This year (in three months, to be exact), Katsuki would turn ten years old. Double digits. Most certainly not a little kid anymore. He already set his resolutions to improve his fastball and master the drums, in that order.

But after a week of sleeping in and picking up a few bonus lessons with Mr. Yamada, Katsuki's brain was still in vacation mode. The boy was extra crabby this morning, much to everyone's dismay.

"Remember," Mitsuki said once they finally got in the car, "Shouto's coming back to school today, so I want you to be nice to him. That boy's been through enough these last few weeks."

Katsuki rolled his eyes and slammed the back of his head against his seat. "I know," he groaned.

He hadn't seen Shouto since the funeral. Touya's death happened close enough to the holiday that his parents decided to keep him home until after winter break was over. And though he refused to admit it, Katsuki was scared to see him.

Would things change between them? Was Katsuki expected to be all friendly with Shouto for the rest of eternity just because his brother died? Was Shouto going to be all friendly with Katsuki just because Katsuki attended the funeral? Was everything going to be exactly the same and Katsuki was worrying for no reason at all? Too much stress this early in the morning made his head hurt, so he did his best to eject his troubling thoughts.

It helped that he spotted Eijiro as soon as he climbed out of the car when they reached the elementary school parking lot. The two boys greeted each other before heading into the building. Once inside, they walked toward the gymnasium where they were to stand in the line designated for their class as they waited for their teacher to show up.

They were some of the first ones there, only beaten by Tenya Iida and Izuku Midoriya. Not that Katsuki minded as this gave him plenty of time to catch up with Eijiro about how each of their breaks went. They did see each other one day, in which they had an intense snowball fight. Katsuki won, obviously, but both boys had an equal amount of fun.

As Katsuki spoke with Eijiro, Izuku spoke with Tenya.

"Shouto's coming back today," the green haired boy said.

This caught Eijiro's attention. "Really?"

Izuku nodded. "My mom told me."

"Mine too," Katsuki muttered. He didn't enjoy talking to Izuku, but he wasn't about to let the boy get all the credit for knowing something their classmates didn't.

"Do you think he's feeling better?" Eijiro said.

Tenya adjusted his glasses. "I doubt it. It has to hurt a lot to lose your brother. I don't know what I'd do without my brother."

Eijiro dropped his shoulders. "Yeah. Maybe."

As the minutes ticked by, more students from Katsuki's third grade class piled in. Their line soon got very chatty, which often happened whenever Denki and Mina showed up. Katsuki glanced at the back of the line every few minutes, looking for Shouto. Anxiety consumed him each time someone new arrived, only for it to vanish when he realized it wasn't the boy he was looking for.

But then, at the last minute, there he was.

Shouto shuffled awkwardly across the gymnasium, his body being swallowed by his puffy winter jacket. His face poked out from under his beanie, though he was too far away for Katsuki to gauge his expression. As he approached their class line, the discomfort on his face was evident, most likely because kids across all grade levels were staring at him. Katsuki immediately faced the front of the line again, not wanting to associate himself with a bunch of nosy losers.