𝐇𝐢𝐤𝐚𝐫𝐢 『Bakugo Katsuki』

◆ Chapter 25 ◇

11 years ago –

Shoto couldn't take his eyes off of her. More specifically, her hair.

"Y-Yeah..."

Miyuki glanced at the vacant space beside him and squeezed her All Might plushie a bit tighter. Shoto looked at it and his eyes widened slightly.

"M-May I sit... with you...?" She asked hopefully, noticing how he looked strangely at her and her toy. She hoped he didn't refuse her.

She hoped... maybe...

Shoto's heterochromic eyes wandered back to her and a light blush dusted his round cheeks.

This girl wanted to sit next to... him?

"Y-Yeah..."

Miyuki sat in the sand beside him, her dress spreading beneath her like a cloud. Her face was a gentle pink as she looked at the yellow sand beneath her. Shoto glanced at her before turning to look at the sand as well.

The silence between them stretched out for a good few minutes.

"Wh-What's your name...?" Shoto asked shyly. Miyuki jolted, slightly surprised that he'd spoken to her again.

'I thought he was ignoring me...'

"M-My name is Shizuka Miyuki... P-Please call me Miyuki..." She said, pressing her face into her toy as she looked at him shyly. "What's yours...?"

"Todoroki Shoto..." He responded just as bashful as her. He looked at her.

Their wide eyes were fixed on each other, brimming with curiosity... and another. Something akin to hope.

"...Huh?"

Shoto jumped slightly when Miyuki raised her hand towards him. She recoiled at once, afraid she might have scared him away.

The other kids usually ran away.

But when Shoto didn't, she tried again. This time, he didn't jump. He just watched her, watched her hand reach somewhere above him...

Then gently land on his head.

"Todoroki-Chan... you..." Miyuki muttered in a soft voice, "You're... just like me."

"H-Huh?" Shoto asked again, slightly confused at what she meant. Then he looked at her hand in his half and half red and white hair, then her own head full of half and half black and white hair. "Y-yeah..."

He mimicked her actions. A small smile made its way onto his face.

"You look like me, too... Shizuka-Chan..."

Miyuki's heart fluttered like a butterfly with new wings. Whatever anxiety she was feeling fled from her as a new feeling bloomed within her, its petals flapping gently up and up until they freed themselves in her tinkering laughter.