Ethereal ◆ Shoto Todoroki x Reader

30 | Questions

"Oh, hello Princess," he hums, "Oh, and the prince!"

He points behind you to where Shoto is approaching, the book clutched in his hand. He walks briskly, as if he wants to show you something.

"Takahashi listen to me," you snap, turning back to him, "what in the world just happened?"

". . .what do you mean?" 

"Y-you were. . .an-and you. . ." you stutter, not sure what exactly to say. "We were talking, and you suddenly. . ."

Shoto comes up behind you, eagerly waiting for you to finish your conversation. 

You decide to start over. "Okay, what did you say to Hitoka when you visited her?"

"Visited her?" Takahashi looks at you quizzically, "I haven't seen her since she was released. I wouldn't visit a lady in her room alone, your Highness."

"But didn't you want to give her flowers?" You ask.

"Oh, yes," he smiles, blushing, "but I wasn't sure if it was a good idea. What if she has allergies? Or hates flowers?" 

"You got nervous and chickened out, didn't you?" You laugh.

"You guessed it," he smirks, "but really, your Highness, I haven't seen her in a while. I just hope she's well."

How could he forget? It was less than ten minutes ago. . . !

"But you just saw her!" You say, trying to piece together the events, "You just walked out of her room, I was there. . ."

"I'm sure I would've remembered that, princess."

"But. . ."

You look behind you, to where Shoto is standing with his father's book. He tilts his head. "Are you okay?"

"Y-yes I just, don't know what's going on," you say, "Hold on, Shoto, I'm sorry but I'll talk with you in a bit. Meet me in my room in ten minutes."

You smile at him, then walk away, head swirling with thoughts. Is there something wrong with Takahashi? Was he poisoned like the king?

You stop in front of Hitoka's room, right next to yours, and knock on the door.

"Who is it?" you hear her call.

"It's me," you say, "I just wanted to talk about something really fast."

If Hitoka doesn't remember, then I might be the one going crazy.

"Come in."

You open the door to see Hitoka sitting on the edge of her bed, drinking tea.

You smile. "Looks like someone's warming up to the food."

"Yes, well," she smirks, "I've always liked tea."

You sit beside her. "So have I. May I have a cup?"

She nods, pouring you one and handing you the delicate teacup.  You're careful not to spill it on the bed or your clothes, taking a sip.

"So," you start, "has Takahashi visited you today?" 

She nods, pointing to some roses on her bedside. "He gave me those. He even tried to remove the thorns for me." She laughs.

"That's such a Takahashi thing to do," you sigh. "Did he act sort of. . .strange? Not like himself?"

"Not really," she takes a sip of her tea, "He acted normal. Why do you want to know anyways?"

"Oh, well, sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable," you apologize, "I just thought I noticed something off about him earlier. Wouldn't want my personal guard to be sick, haha." 

You force a laugh, then take one last sip of your tea and leave. 

That was embarrassing. Good thing I got out of there before anything else happened.

Your head is hurting, but probably from all of the theories forming. 

Now you have to go to your room to meet with Shoto. It seemed like he had something important to tell you.

It suddenly feels like the air is made of lead, pushing down on your lungs and making it hard to breathe. Your vision gets blurry, but you can still see the door to your room just a few feet ahead of you.

What's happening?

The hall seems to sway, like a boat in a storm, undesirably bringing up lunch from earlier, and perhaps some of that tea.

The tea.

And then, the world fades to black.

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