vessel of time › todoroki shoto

Chapter 9: Smile

  It was the first day of our training. We managed to get permission to use the school gym. I glanced at the clock ticking its life away, Shoto was late. We had agreed to meet at the gym at 4 PM sharp, but it was already 4:12 PM, he's twelve minutes late to be exact. He usually did not need so much time to change into his PE attire, why was he taking so long? Just then, the door snapped open. I turned to look and it was Shoto, however, something about his expression seemed a bit odd. He looked agitated in fact. He strode towards me. "Let's start?" he muttered. I narrowed my eyes at him.

  "Are you okay?" I asked, somehow I was concerned.

  "Let's start, I'll talk about it later."

  And hence, we began our training. He taught me the basics like dodging and how to make sure my punches and kicks were accurate, he also trained me to improve my reaction, since from my battle with Arata, it was quite obvious how bad I was at reacting on time. And so, time flew past swiftly and effortlessly. It was now 8 PM, we had been training together for about four hours or so. We packed up and got ready to leave. He approached me, holding a small towel. I looked at him in confusion before he abruptly grabbed my hand and gently put the towel in it. His warmth overpowered my cold hand. "Thanks," I gripped onto it and wiped my sweat off.

  He took a glimpse at the clock before saying, "I'll accompany you back home, it's late," he uttered before he strode towards the exit, I hurriedly followed him. We left the school compound. The faint evening glow diminished as darkness consumed the land. The air grew colder. We walked along the cobble stone sidewalk, I shuffled the fallen leaves with every step I took. The silence here was eerie, it seemed like anything could lurk within this darkness. At this time, it was considered too late for me to go out on the streets like this, so I understand why Shoto would want to accompany me.

  "So, what happened before you met me at the gym?" I finally questioned, remembering what had happened and to also break this awkward silence between us.

  "(Y/N), don't talk to Arata again," he responded, he started clenching his fists.

  "Why? Did something happen?" I raised an eyebrow, that answer was too vague.

  "He's mentally unstable, I can feel it. It's better to stay away from him."

  I stopped in my tracks. "Shoto, please just tell me what happened."

  He stopped as well and turned to look at me with stern eyes while sauntering towards me. "While I was in the locker room changing into my PE attire, he suddenly came up to me."

Four hours ago, in the male's locker room
Shoto's POV

  "So, you're going to meet (Y/N) later, right?" I abruptly turned to look at who was talking. It was Arata. "Please leave her alone."

  "Why?" My eyes narrowed at him.

  "She's my only friend. She's mine," he said, glaring.

  "What do you mean, she's yours? She isn't anybody's, especially not a toy for you to play with and break her into pieces like you did during the Heroes Vs Villains battle, you continued hurting her on purpose," I rebuked. I slumped my bag over my shoulder and headed out, knowing I was going to be late and I did not want to stir up a fuss but instead, Arata grabbed the back of my collar and forcefully shoved me on the ground. His eye was throbbing.

  "Why doesn't she want to talk to me anymore? I tried explaining what happened years ago, but she doesn't want to listen," his voice shook, what was wrong with him?

  "What happened? What did you do to her years ago?" I asked as nicely as possible, trying to get an answer out of him.

  "I... I almost killed her, I swear, it was an accident, I didn't mean... to do it." He hesitated, "I just want her to forgive me."

  I felt a pang in my heart. "You... what?" My eyes widened. "Arata, are you okay? Back in the battle, you were smirking and sneering at her, threatening her with all those remarks and hurting her on purpose... And now you're asking her for forgiveness? Your quirk is a psychological one, right? Is it affecting your mind's stability?" I retorted as I scowled at him. "You should be the one leaving her alone," I continued before getting up and leaving, something about Arata screams dangerous.

Back to the present
(Y/N)'s POV
 
  I looked away. An accident? He called that an accident? I could've died and he just... ran off and left me behind. "So please, stay away from him. I feel like his quirk does a great deal of damage to his mind, he seemed so mentally unstable." Shoto reminded me. I nodded, what on earth was happening to Arata? "Good," he heaved a sigh of relief as we continued walking.

  The weather wasn't in our favour today as out of the blue, it started raining, heavily. "I didn't bring my umbrella," I said as I checked every inch of my bag, we weren't near any shelters either, I started shivering. Shoto quickly took out an umbrella from his bag and opened it. "This umbrella is a bit small," he uttered as he pulled me closer towards him, he wanted to make sure I was completely under the umbrella even though he wasn't. "Shoto... Your shoulder is getting drenched," I trembled as I spoke.

  "It's fine." He calmly said. His arm was still around my shoulders as we walked with caution on the now slippery sidewalk. I could feel the warmth from his hand as well as my cheeks. Gosh, was I blushing?

  Unexpectedly, I slipped on the extremely slippery ground. I braced myself for the pain I would feel from the fall but instead, I felt his arms around me before I could even hit the ground, we were both under the rain as he had to drop the umbrella in order to catch me. I looked up at him and into his eyes, our surroundings were dark but not his exceptionally bright eyes. He helped me up on my feet again and quickly grabbed the umbrella. "T-Thank you," I said, looking away.

  "You're too clumsy," he responded.

  "It isn't my fault that the ground is so slippery!" I said as I looked at him, only to notice that he was smiling. I had never seen his smile before, and something about it felt so warm, just like his hands. I chuckled slightly. "Shoto, you're smiling."

  "Huh? No," he wiped his smile off his face as he sternly said.

  "You should smile more," I replied, looking at the ground. Soon, we had reached my house. He accompanied me to my doorstep. "Thanks for accompanying me back home, I really appreciate it," I thanked him, he nodded and left before I unlocked the door and entered. I smiled to myself, despite today's cold weather, I felt warm.

Author's note

I'm so sorry for the five days wait! I will try to update as frequently as possible! Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I will write the next one as soon as I can! Thank you again for your support and I'll see you in the next one :)