~ 22 ~
It was now already evening, and Mirio and Ryuka were still in the training area. Both were panting, but Ryuka looked a whole lot more finished than her Senpai.
She threw a kick at his head, but it went right through him. Instead Ryuka received a punch to the face.
Her eyes darted around, trying to catch sight of the blond male.
He vanished again, jumping out of the ground, going for Ryuka's back. She expected that, jumping in the air before him, using her Quirk, making him stumble forward.
As she saw him under her, practically defenseless, she had to take her chance. She flipped around in the air, quickly striking down on his back. And for only a little moment, she felt her foot touch his back, before he once again vanished inside the ground.
Ryuka got another punch to the stomach, making her wince out loudly. She ducked under his foot, before her eyes widened.
This was her chance.
She went for his foot while his other one was still in the air, and used her leg to throw him off his feet.
But before he could hit the ground, she punched Mirio in the face with little hesitation, surprising him very much.
Mirio was thrown on his back, holding his face with one hand while Ryuka was standing above him, panting heavily.
Mirio smiled up at her. "You got me pretty good, respect." He said, sitting up, also panting.
Ryuka steadied her body on her knies. "I figured you couldn't dematerialise your feet when you're standing on them. Took me a good while to figure out your Quirk." She said between heavy breaths.
Mirio only smirked.
"Could've told me at least a little bit before beating the shit out of me." Ryuka said, slowly regaining her normal breathing.
"But would that be as much fun?" He asked, seeing as Ryuka reached a hand out for him to take.
"Probably not." She said, pulling Mirio to his feet after he clasped her hand in his.
"Wanna go another round?" He asked, that stupid smile still on his face.
Ryuka's mouth twitched. "I would make a very inappropriate joke right now but I'm too tired."
"Huh?"
Ryuka turned around, waving lightly at the male. "I think I'm gonna go throw up in my room now, thanks for the training." She called, walking—or rather limping—to her room.
Mirio only laughed. "See you tomorrow!"
- - - - -
"My hero—Gran Torino— is an old man who is making fun of me!" Izuku whisper yelled inside the phone.
"Mhhm..."
"I'm now sitting outside in an alleyway...surrounded by trash."
"Hm."
"What about you, Ryu-chan? How's it going?"
"Pwetty gwodf." The girl mumbled, tiredly.
"What?" Izuku asked.
With a load groan, Ryuka moved her face from the pillow and sat up in her bed.
"I'm gonna die here, and I like it." She said, a nostalgic smile creeping onto her face.
"W-what?" Izuku asked once again through the phone.
"I'm getting beat up man, it's perfect!" She said with more enthusiasm now.
Izuku was just getting more confused. "Ah- o-okay?"
But then, Ryukas phone buzzed. She looked at the screen with tired eyes. "Huh, Hitoshi is calling." She said to Izuku.
"Oh-okay then—"
"Tch, the fucker can wait." She said, dismissing his call without a second thought.
"Alright, keep talking. Talk me to sleep Greenie." She said, laying down again and closing her eyes.
And he began talking, telling her about his whole day and what happened, only receiving a few hums from Ryuka.
Just as Ryuka was this close to falling asleep at her green haired friend's voice, her phone buzzed once again, making her jump lightly.
"Urgh, imma rip his ugly ass hair out—" But she stopped when she saw the name of the person who was calling.
"...Uhm Izuku-chan, I gotta hang up."
"Huh? Okay but wh—"
And she hung up, immediately answering the person who was showing on her screen.
"Yes?" She said, sitting up as she heard the voice of the boy.
"Hey Ryu, it's Shoto."
Ryuka had to smile a little. "I know. What is it? Missed me already?" She asked.
"I think so, yes." His calm voice answered.
Ryuka rolled her eyes at his bluntness.
"How was your rest of the day? Any problems with your father?" She asked, her tired eyes slowly wandering around the big room of hers.
Shoto sighed. "Not really, he just kind of welcomed me and then instructed someone to show me around. That's about all that happened today." He answered.
Ryuka slowly stood up from her bed, suddenly not feeling like sleeping anymore. "I guess that's a start, but remember, try to learn something from him, even though he's annoying." She said, walking over to the nearby couch and letting her tired body fall on it.
Her blue eyes looked at the ceiling while listening to Shoto's voice. "...Yeah. How has your day been? Got the training you wanted?" He asked.
Now Shoto was also laying down on the little sofa in his room, his mismatched eyes staring into space.
"Yup. Got my ass beat up, it was great." Ryuka said, making the boy laugh shortly at her demeanour.
Ryuka could feel her heart jump at the sound, wishing she could see him right now. "...Ryu, why didn't you come to my old man's agency?" Shoto asked with a little hesitation.
Ryuka sighed out at the question. "So you know, huh?...How?" She asked slowly.
"He asked for you."
"Hm."
A little moment of silence.
"So?" He asked again.
"Oh you know, I'm just a really big fan of Sir Nighteye." Ryuka retorted nonchalantly, speaking lies like she believed them herself.
Shoto raised an eyebrow. "Oh really?" He asked.
"Yeah, since I was little." Ryuka retorted.
Shoto sat up from his lying position. His hair falling into his face. He had to smile slightly, huffing air out of his nose. "Is that a lie again?" He asked.
Ryuka had to take a moment to answer. Since when did someone notice when she was lying? This never happened.
"...Does it matter?" She finally spoke.
Shoto pushed the hair out of his face, failing to wipe off the little smile on his lips while he was speaking to her.
"Doesn't matter. But it would've been more pleasant with you here, of course." He said.
"Of course it would. No one can resist my charm for long. Not even your fire man of a father." She said cockily, feeling her smile return to her face.
Shoto chuckled lightly. "Yeah, you're probably right."
"I always am."
"I know."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. I think I know quite a lot about you." Shoto stated.
Ryuka had to chuckle. "You know quite nothing about me, pretty boy." She said, making the boy's heart jump at the nickname.
Shoto leaned back into the sofa. "There I disagree." He stated.
"Alright, then let me hear something." Ryuka said, standing up from the couch and making her way over to the little kitchen in a side room.
"You love food, especially ramen." He stated.
Ryuka looked through the cabinets, trying to find something to eat while listening to the boy's voice.
"That's too easy. Everyone knows that." She said.
"You don't take yourself seriously very often, yet you dislike it when others underestimate you in your intelligence and power. And you make a lot of jokes...or no jokes, I can't figure it all out yet." He continued, making Ryuka laugh a little as she pulled out a box of cookies that were standing in one of the cabinets.
After checking the date, she began eating them.
"You drink a whole lot of coffee...because you don't sleep well at night." Shoto continued, making Ryuka stop her chewing for a moment.
"Huh? How—"
"You sleep a lot in class, you know.
So I figured." He interrupted. "You always wear those bandages around your arms and hands..." Todoroki didn't finish his sentence, feeling like he was overstepping a line with this.
Ryuka remained silent.
He just continued talking. "...You have an answer to everything, which is an ability that I admire. You love your friends dearly, you work very hard to get what you want, and you won't let anyone stop you from being the best" He continued, having Ryuka listening to every single word.
"And even though your family is clearly rich, you work in a café, which I didn't understand at first. But even though your family could give you great advantages, you're still determined to make it on your own."
Ryuka had to gulp thickly, her dull eyes staring at the table she was sitting at.
"You would even go as far as to hurt yourself badly, just for the win."
"Okay Shoto I get it—"
"You're also a master at lying." He interrupted again.
Ryuka raised an eyebrow, clearly not noticeable for the boy through the phone. "Oh yeah? You think so?" The girl said, keeping her confident behaviour upright.
"Yeah. I think so."
Ryuka was maybe talking confident words, but in reality, she felt called out, embarrassed even. How could he see through her so easily?
She just took another bite from her cookie before sighing.
"...And I also think....you're very beautiful." Shoto's dark voice spoke through the phone, making Ryuka halt once again.
A big smile crept itself into her face, of course not noticeable for Shoto on the other side of the phone.
"You're a special one Shoto. Will you be confident enough to tell me that to my face when we see each other?" She said with a light laugh.
Shoto immediately smiled at the sound of her laugh. "Only if you look somewhere else, your eyes make me nervous." He said honestly.
"I noticed that. But you know me, now I'm going to look you extra deep in the eye." She said teasingly.
"I can't wait." He said.
And so their conversation went on for hours. Ryuka noticed how Shoto seemed to make more teasing remarks or even...jokes around her.
She liked that.
But then at some point, it was time for them to go to sleep.
"I have to sleep now, Sho. Talk to you another day, alright?" She said with a yawn.
"Alright. Good night, Ryu."
"Good night."
And with that, they both hung up and slowly went to sleep.
- - - - -