Kei's eyes slowly flutter open. She reassesses her situation, remembering last night's events. For starters, she has clothes on, the bedsheets seemed fine and fresh, and she lies on a bed separated from the occupied one on the other side of the room.
Another drawback from quirk overuse, she concludes.
She carefully sits up and approaches the peacefully sleeping male. She watches the sunlight reflect on his delicate features.
"Shoto," she whispers, subtly waking the male.
The said teen jolts up as he sees her the first thing in the morning.
"About last night, I'm sorry—"
He was abruptly halted with a thump. He gazes down the female who was squeezing his trunk. "I'm sorry," Kei says, her voice almost breaking down. "It's my fault."
Shoto has his eyes soften by the girl's action. He returns the hug as he buries her nose on her hair. "If I forgive you, would it offset my sin?"
Kei eagerly nods.
"It's glad to have you back, Kei," Shoto says with a warm smile.
—
Their day was well spent training their fire quirks under Endeavor's personal supervision. It mainly composed of a lot of combat and fire-related quirks, which somehow made the female uneasy due to two reasons. Firstly, Endeavor has been so open about pushing through his intentions, to the point of putting the younger male on a sour mood. Secondly, Kei's constant use of her fire quirk and suppressing of the other has been burdening her physical condition since the morning. She could already feel her fever accruing by the second; both males agonizingly unmindful of her change in demeanor.
"Call it a day, both of you," Enji says as he exits the room.
"Or more like a night," Kei says sarcastically in between pants. The duo has been perspiring consistently. The female sighs, internally shocked at experiencing Endeavor's mentally and physically exhausting way of teaching.
"Here," Shoto says, handling a bottle of water to the female.
"Thanks," she casually replies as he grabs the drink. She analyzes the male's state, quite amused that he somehow seemed to recover rather quickly. "Your body has been highly adaptive of his hellish training, I see."
"Yeah, although it was harder during childhood. You'll get into it soon," he replies nonchalantly.
"I still couldn't get used every time I hear your personal stories defining child abuse," Kei sweat-drops, to which Shoto just hums in response.
Kei was about to grab her towel when her world spun. She loses her footing, consequently mentally preparing herself to a hard fall when she felt familiar arms supporting her weight. "Hey, are you okay?" Shoto flashes a concerned look on his eyes.
It's rare to see him like this, or even any emotions in front of other people, so Kei was beyond pleased. She was about to put up a silly retort when a sudden throb on her head stopped her. She squints her eyes at the pain and curses.
Shoto then finally noticed the non-stop flowing sweat despite the supposed effect of their cooldown. He sensibly touches the female's forehead, almost retracting it upon contact. "You're hot."
Kei chuckles softly, "Heck yeah, I am."
"No, seriously, you have fever. I need to take you to the hospital," Shoto says, his tone quite reprimanding.
"Please no," Kei whispers weakly, attempting to stand back to her feet. "This is gonna get through your old man since we're currently under his agency. I don't wanna give Endeavor the pleasure of taking care of nor owing any favor from his bleep-supposed-to-be."
Shoto sighs, already giving up on his thoughts as he is awfully aware of the female's stubborn personality. "I'll assist you to the room then."
Kei nods in silence.
As soon as Kei has been set on her bed, Shoto gave her medicine and was about to walk out to bring her dinner when he felt a hand feebly grabbing his. "I'll go get you something to eat. I'll return shortly," he softly speaks, leveling to the female.
"I'd rather have you as my meal," Kei smirks faintly.
"Can you though?" Shoto says, almost deadpanned.
The female knits her eyebrow, honestly startled at the boy's reaction.
Then awkward silence.
"I thought so," Shoto says, positioning to stand.
"Can you... stay?" Kei asks cautiously.
The male shows a soft beam, "I plan to." He sits on the edge of Kei's bed, setting his right hand on her forehead and eventually activating his quirk to at least lower her temperature.
They stayed in a comfortable silence, just like the old times.
"So, why choose Endeavor?" Kei says, her eyelids getting heavy by the minute. "Last time I checked, you loathed him."
"I realized how much the field of vision is narrowed for someone who has pent-up resentment." Shoto delays his answer with a gentle gaze. "That day, when you saw me with my mother, the woman you met on the hospital, I talked about everything from what had happened to who I am now. She cried and apologized, and I was shocked at how she forgive me. She told me that if I move on without being held down by anything that would be her happiness and relief."
Kei smiles at this revelation. She's glad to know his so-needed reconciliation with his parent.
Shoto continues, his heart-felt words echoing softly in the room. "My previous self would never have chosen my father's agency for my internship. It's not that I've forgiven him and I don't plan to, but this was to see and experience the fact that he is called the number two hero, so that I can accept this reality. No matter how much of a scum he is, I couldn't hep but admit that he had a good judgement and intuition fit for a number two hero. Everything was so simple. It was so simple, but I couldn't see it."
Kei gently grabs the male's hand, placing it on her cheek. She caresses the back of his palm, her smile warming at the male's solitary gaze, "That's a start, Sho. I'm proud of you."
"Thank you," Shoto says. His thumb mildly rubbing against her delicate skin, "Kei."
That night, Shoto stayed by Kei's side, ensuring that the female's temperature stays in check through his quirk.
—
Third day of internship.
"Shoto, we'll go on patrol today," Endeavor says with crossed arms. "Where's Yagami?"
"She's calling a sick leave today. She's experiencing quirk drawbacks," Shoto replies monotonously. "She'll be back by tomorrow."
"I see," the older male comments, turning his back away from his son. "Let's get started then."
—
The next morning, Kei wakes up to find an empty room. She searches for her trainer through the secretary on her floor.
"Endeavor is currently busy with the media at the moment. He relayed an order, however, to have you sent to Hosu General Hospital."
"I thought I already had Shoto tell the man that I'll be back and up today," Kei releases an exasperated sigh.
"Oh, but it's not the case," the secretary says indifferently. "There was an attack last night at the center of Hosu. Endeavor's son was reported to be at the scene and has been confined since."
"He's what now?" Kei asks in disbelief.
Kei rushes to the said address, only getting the limited information from the desk.
—
"Sho, are you okay—?" The female bursts in the room and spots three boys near her age staring at her panting state. "Oh, you got the least injuries," she says in a disappointed tone.
"Kei?" Izuku and Shoto says simultaneously.
"So this is the Kei Yagami whom you once added in the group, Midoriya," the eye-glasses guy says as his body rotates to her direction.
"A-Ah, y-yeah," Izuku says, nervously laughing.
"And you must be the class representative!" Kei exclaimed, skipping to the male.
"I'm Tenya Iida from Class 1-A," he introduces almost robotically as he bows to greet the female.
"Why, aren't you the most hurt one?" Kei says, analyzing his dual-casted arms. "Where does it hurt?" She says, leaning closer to the male. Tenya was partially taken back with the sudden invasion of his personal space, stumbling back to his seated position and unable to say something. "Well, it doesn't matter," Kei says, closing in.
"Kei, don't!" the other two males says, once again concurrently in an attempt to stop her next deed.
But it was already too late. She had her lips already pecking Tenya's forehead.
She later pats Tenya's head, chanting, "Everything's gonna be okay."
This statement warms the heart of the blue-haired student. He has his gaze soften at the female, "Thank you."
Meanwhile, the two spectators had their eyes locked at one another right after blurting out the second statement.
"You knew?"
"Yeah. You too?"
"Y-Yeah."
"She's done it to me too when we were younger. I already told her not to throw that trick on other people, especially on males."
"Y-Your childhood friends? So, you're close!"
"Yeah, you can say. Just like you and Bakugo."
"I—"
—
"Hero Killer Stain has killed more people than any other individual since All Might's appearance. With his arrest, there is a sigh of relief spreading throughout Japan. The heavily injured Hero Killer Stain is currently receiving treatment under police protection. The police await the recovery of the victims to further investigate the motive behind the attack."
"Looks like we'll have to wait for our next meeting, princess."