Spare Him ||BNHA Todoiida||Villain Todoroki||

Chapter 9- Railway Station

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Iida was half-stumbling half-limping as he pulled up to the railway station taking him back home. The painkillers he took were definitely working, it wasn't as hard to walk as he initially thought it would be, but he wasn't allowed to carry his own luggage.

Just another thing he had to burden Midoriya with. The greenette himself was following up close behind him, carrying his signature plain yellow backpack and rolling Iida's suitcase with him.

"I'm sorry you have to carry my luggage," Iida said, looking down in shame. "especially after all the trouble I put you through."

"It's fine, really!" Midoriya assured him, rolling the suitcase to a stand. "This is nothing."

Iida breathed out, another apology on the tip of his tongue. How many times had he apologized in the last day? In the last hour, even. It had to be at least five times...

The doors of the current train suddenly closed, and it sped off as fast as a bullet. The two students' train would be arriving shortly, and Iida couldn't wait. It would be the train that would take them out of the cursed city of Hosu, which Iida then dubbed as his nightmare city.

"Hard to believe so much has happened, doesn't it?" Midoriya said, smile on his face despite the harsh circumstances. "Even if it was only for a few days, this internship was packed. I learned a few things too!"

"Oh, that's right," Iida recalled the sparkling green lightning around the teen's body, not a single broken bone on his body when he used his quirk. "You finally learned to control your quirk, correct? Congratulations, Midoriya!"

"Ehehe, thanks, Iida," MIdoriya said, rubbing his head sheepishly. He brought his hand down, and gripped it tightly. "From here on out, I'll have to learn to get better at combat. There's only so much raw power can take me."

"I see," Iida mused. "You must've chosen a good mentor for your internship to master your power in such a short time."

"He is pretty great," Midoriya agreed. The train they were waiting for pulled up while he said that, people already starting to file out of the open doors. "Oh, this is us. Let's get on."

As the two carefully squeezed between the dense mass of people to get on the train, Iida couldn't help but wonder how Midoriya was acting so normal.

Surely he should've been mad? Disappointed? Actually, he was probably disappointed. But why was he talking so casually at the person who could've caused his death? Why was he not shaking in his boots because of his deadly encounter with Stain?

Iida's thoughts left him when they managed to find two empty seats. Sitting next to each other, Midoriya slung his backpack off and put it into his lap. Iida's suitcase was trapped between his legs.

The doors soon closed cleanly, and the train started speeding off. Straight ahead, there was a clear view of the windows, the city blurring by in a multicolored streak. 

Iida closed his eyes, and let the hum of the train take him away from reality.

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Todoroki was breaking apart vanilla wafer sticks when a plain-looking man with light-brown hair came walking into the convenience store. At first, he didn't pay too much attention. But then, when the man went up to him and casually asked, "Are you Sho?" is when he accidentally snapped his wafer in half.

Alarmed, he glanced towards Akaguro. The hero killer gave a subtle nod. 

Todoroki gave an awkward cough, then said, "I am."

"So then you must be friends with Tenya Iida," the man said, then looked at Akaguro. "Could I get a pretzel, please? I'm starving."

"...Right away." Akaguro grumbled.

"What about Iida?" Todoroki asked, biting into his wafer. The sugary vanilla cream spread through his mouth. "Is he doing okay?"

"Why wouldn't he be doing okay?" the man said in a tone that probably implied he was joking, but it had a strange air around it.

"Just asking," Todoroki unwrapped another vanilla wafer. "So what did you come in here to tell me?"

"He told me you had plans to hang out together," the man said, taking his warm pretzel from Akaguro. He took out his wallet. "unfortunately though, he has to leave today. He would probably tell you himself, he's that kind of guy, but it's an immediate leave."

"...I see," Todoroki mumbled, feeling his stomach sink. He shouldn't have been surprised. Who wouldn't leave after what happened? "Thank you for telling me."

The man took a bite of his pretzel, smiling kindly. "No problem. Maybe I'll see you around the area, Sho." With that, he left the store, small bell jingling as he left.

Todoroki pressed his lips tightly, silence filling the store. He broke it soon after, saying, "That was a hero, wasn't it?"

Akuguro picked up his lukewarm canned coffee. "Yeah, there's no way that Iida kid would tell your identity to someone he really couldn't trust completely. That's also brings up another thing."

"Iida's leaving," Todoroki mumbled. "Out of Hosu, if the case is being treated seriously."

"How do you think you'll learn more about him now?" Akaguro asked, drinking more of his coffee.

Todoroki frowned in frustration, biting off more of his wafer. Did he really leave Iida alive for nothing? He didn't want Iida to die, but everybody needed a reason to live, right? Stain's reason was to cleanse the world, his was to kill his father, and Iida's was too...

No, that wasn't right. Todoroki should've been thinking of how to see Iida again. He knew the teen was in Hosu to find Stain, do his internship, and see his brother.

See his brother.

"...His brother's here, isn't he?" Todoroki said. "He might visit again to see him."

"Unlikely with you and me running around," Akaguro pointed out. "Best case, they'll relocate Ingenium out of Hosu. Worst case, Iida won't see his brother until it's one hundred-percent safe."

Todoroki face-planted onto his little table of empty candy wrappers.

"Why are you so insistent on meeting the kid? I get you're interested, but it's best to just forget about him now," Akaguro said with no real harshness in his voice. "There's little chance you'll see him again."

'I don't want to forget about him.' Todoroki thought. 'I thought you said I should be making friends.'

An idea suddenly popped in his head. "I know, I'll meet him at U.A." Todoroki snapped his fingers. "He goes to school there, right?"

"Kid, I'm not going to let you go over to Musutafu to meet a guy," Akaguro said. "Besides, you need to help me around here."

"But I never help out here." Todoroki said.

"Now you do," Akaguro announced. "Restock the bottles of soda pop over there."

"This is unpaid child labor," Todoroki said loudly, but got up anyway. "Your manager will hear of this."

"And he will also hear about you stealing all of the candy in this store," Akaguro retorted. "I wonder who will get kicked out first."

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1179 words

A/N- man dont you hate it when your actions have consequences