From Distant Lands (Shiori's Story)

Chapter 4

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

The sound of my alarm tugs me out of a deep sleep. Having several hours of rest the evening before should've made waking up an easy task. But these days, I can never get enough sleep. I am in a better mood though. My eyes open slowly, allowing time to adjust to the sunlight decorating my walls and floor. As I stretch out, I can feel where there were impacts made to my body during yesterday's exercise and I make sure to remember where they are. I should definitely take it easy today. Not too easy, but I can't make progress without resting.

I give myself a moment to mentally prepare for what I'm going to face today. Do I know what that is? No. But I never know what to expect at this school, leaving me in a near constant state of stress. So I control what little I can to give myself some peace. Before showering, I lay out my uniform, stockings and shoes on my bed and place all my notebooks and homework in my bag so it's ready to go when I am. I reread over my class schedule to confirm where I'm going this morning and what subject it is. Then, I take off down the hall with my bathrobe and shower caddy. The hot water soothes my aching muscles and I take a moment to examine my body for any bruises and scrapes. There's a few that are yellowing already, so nothing out of the ordinary for a training exercise. I finish my shower and head to my room to get dressed.

As I leave the dorms, my attention is immediately drawn to my sister, who is still in sweats and practicing her technique on the front lawn. I sigh and start walking towards her when I hear someone call my name.

"Shiori!" Kaminari slows to a stop next to me and grins. "Hey! Are you still coming tonight?" My brows furrow and I search his face, trying to remember what he's talking about.

"Tonight?" I ask, confused and he nods.

"Yeah, the group training session. Remember yesterday? I asked if you wanted to train with some of us after classes?" Oh, now I remember. I just told him yes so he'd leave me alone. I give him an apologetic smile, hoping he takes this answer and runs.

"Oh sorry, I forgot. I made plans with Kaida this evening." His face falls a bit, obviously disappointed.

"Really? Well, she can come too. I did wanna spend a little one on one time with you cause I honestly think fighting someone with a quirk like yours would be good training. But training with her quirk would be good too." He absentmindedly rubs the back of his neck as he rambles, prompting me to mimic his gesture, my hand rising to twirl a strand of my hair. A nervous habit I picked up when I was young.

"We totally would, but it's a family thing." Hopefully, this excuse is convincing. I just really don't want to spend time with people I don't know. "Can we train another time?" I offer and he nods reassuringly.

"Definitely, just let me know when!" With that, he runs off, catching up with Kirishima and Sero and my attention returns to Kaida who is now having her own conversation with Todoroki. Not wanting to interrupt their conversation, I take my time walking over to her and only catch the last of their conversation.

"It's not power you lack Ito, it's focus." He says, matter of fact, I can feel my sister's annoyance.

"Oh, is that all?" She replies through gritted teeth.

"We'll see." Not even acknowledging my approach, he walks off towards the school and my sister stares off after him.

"Wow, well he's kinda forward, huh?" I say to myself and she jumps, whipping around and gaping at me.

"What the hell?! Where did you come from?!" Her voice is unnecessarily loud and I raise an eyebrow, surprised that she didn't hear me walk up behind her.

"Calm down, psycho. It's almost time for school." I can see the realization wash over her as she watches all of our classmates leave the dorm behind me.