Fɪɴᴅɪɴɢ Hᴏᴘᴇ [Bᴏᴏᴋ 1] | 𝙏𝙤𝙙𝙤𝙧𝙤𝙠𝙞 𝙎𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙤 𝙓 𝙊𝘾

22

Final exams are around the corner.

I was in the library after school, immersed in the textbooks of mathematics and Japanese literature. I tap my pen softly against my right temple, eyes skimming through the pages in hopes of absorbing the information while jotting down key points and highlighting them.

"Hi, Todoroki!" My ears perk up to the sudden uptune voice. I look around for the source.

"Hey, Midoriya."

"Are you alone?" He asks, the smile never leaves his freckled face.

"Yeah."

"Mind if I join?"

"No. Go ahead."

He takes his seat across from me, setting his books down. He opens one up and immediately he was engrossed in it. I set my focus on my book as well, but I couldn't help reminding myself of the days I taught Kyryan.

His eyes surprises me the most. I was so happy to finally meet someone who is the same as me. I wanted to smile so bad that time but knowing I hated him, I stopped myself.

Why do you have to stop yourself? Did you really hate me that much for entering your once house? How did you change your feelings from hatred to warmth? What made you to like me?

I silently pray that she'll be back safe and sound.

"Todoroki-kun?" Midoriya calls worriedly. I snap from my train of thoughts and unanswered questions. That's when I realized the paper of my textbook is wet with my teardrops. God, this is embarrassing. I quickly wipe my wet face with my bare hand. "Are you okay?" Midoriya asks hesitantly.

"Uh, yeah," I croak out and I cringe at my own voice. Immediately, I clear my throat.

"Todoroki-kun," he trails off for a moment. "Were you thinking of Kyryan-san?"

He read my mind, but it was obvious anyways. I nod once. Midoriya gives me a reassuring smile. "It's okay to cry for someone. It means that you care so much about the person. I can't say much about her as this is a 50/50 thing. We just have to stay strong."

I purse my lips and nod in agreement. We can't always hope she'll live. We never know what the bad guys have up their sleeve.

I continue studying after muttering a thanks. Midoriya's reassurance always helps me a lot but unfortunately, the feeling of worry seems to never leave me. It suffocates me from all the burden on my shoulders. It's like something really heavy is pushing on your chest that makes it harder to breath.

I shake all the thoughts away. I can't have a panic attack now. That wouldn't be good. I really have to accept their fate in order to stop worrying rather than being a hopeless brat.

"Midoriya," I call softly.

He looks up with a questioning look.

"What do you think if one of your closest friends turns into a villain? And one day you have to fight them off?"

His green eyes widen at my sudden question. His mouth agape but he answers anyway. "W-Well," he scratches his cheek with his index finger. "Um, I would be disappointed and sad that they would choose such a path. But if they have no choice but to be the bad people, then I would be pity for them. When it comes to a showdown between us, I couldn't help but feel weak and sad that I have to fight my own friend. Especially when you never thought of having a fight quirk-with-quirk and hatred with them. Though, I would want to know why they choose the villain's side."

Once he finishes, my eyes look down as I give myself a thought. "Okay," was all I could say before resuming my studies. And again, the green haired boy gives one last assurance that everything will be alright.