The morning light flowed from the windows into her room. The light met her eyes, disturbing her sleep. She began to awake with a slight groan, rolling over, only adding more light to her closed eyes. She let out another groan and stretched awkwardly. She let out a yawn, rubbing her sleepy eyes. She sat up and grabbed her glasses from her nightstand, before sliding them up her nose. With her eyes still squinted, she looked around the room. It was a mess of blankets, pillows, wrappers, and other miscellaneous things. To her confusion, Souda was nowhere to be found. She peeked around her bed frame, noticing the shower room door closed. She listened carefully and heard the water running with quiet humming. He must have been in there.
She patted down her hair from its crazy directions, back to normal. The events of last night flooded back into her brain. The tickle fight, the movies, the sweets...the favor. Her face started to blush at the last memory. She recalled her last thoughts that night, which means that she made a recipe for disaster for herself. She liked him. She quickly pulled out her journal and clicked her pen.
'Day 3- Turns out I nearly sprained my knee. Souda and I planned a sleepover in my room. It was really fun. Then, he asked for a favor...a kiss. My thoughts and feelings are in turmoil.'
She wrote in her journal quickly of the previous day and slid it back away. The remembrance of her knee made the pain come back. She held it gently, feeling the aches from the swelling. The sound of the running water soon stopped. She opened her laptop and went to an unfinished document she had saved, pretending to be working on it.
The door of the shower room opened, sending the smell of shampoos and body washes into the room. She quickly covered her eyes with her hand before pointing in the direction of her friend.
"Please tell me you are covered.", she pleaded. He let out a small laugh.
"Yeah, I got a towel.", he reassured.
She peeked cautiously from her covering hand. He was in a towel. Just a white towel, holding it by the side.
"Whew, good."
"Whoops!", he said, letting go of the towel.
Tobi covered her eyes quickly, letting out one of her 'eep's. Souda started laughing hysterically.
"I'm just messing with you! I have boxers on, no worries.", he said, still laughing.
"You dick..", she muttered, glaring at him with a red hot face. It was redder from blush rather than anger.
"Aww, you're blushing. How cute~", he cooed, walking over to her.
"Shut up! No I'm not!", she denied.
"Admit it, you think I'm hot~", he sang, with a smile plastered to his face.
"Shut up and help me up.", she demanded, holding out her arms.
He took them and pulled her up gently. She straightened out her clothes before crossing her arms. She looked up at him, observing his features. The one thing that stuck out to her was that the top layer of his hair went diagonally upward from his head.
"Does your hair always do that?", she asked pointing to it.
"Yeah, it does. It's kinda like a huge cowlick.", he said laughing. "That's the reason I wear my hat all the time."
"Why haven't I ever noticed it before?"
"Dunno, possibly my hat hair makes it less obvious?", he said with a shrug. She shrugged as well.
"Well, do you wanna go to your place so you can get clothes? I want breakfast."
"Sure, I'll run over there while you get dressed. Sound good?"
She nodded and they went to get proper clothing on. Tobi also decided to run a comb through her hair and whatnot.
He, soon enough, came back to get her. The two walked to the cafeteria, noticing the lesser amount of students than normal. They most likely were still sleeping. Their meal together seemed slightly awkward for some reason and Tobi wanted to know why.
"Did you sleep well?", she said, attempting to make conversation.
"Yep, how 'bout you?", he asked back.
"Same. Any dreams?"
"Not really. A few little nightmares though."
"Nightmares? What of?" He shrugged at the question.
"Just little things, I guess."
"I'm sorry you had nightmares…", she muttered sympathetically.
"Don't worry about it, I get them a lot. They don't phase me much anymore."
"Whenever I had nightmares, I would find my mom and she would comfort me or do whatever I asked.", she said for no apparent reason.
"Hmm, that sounds nice..", he said, almost enviously.
"If you want, you can come get me whenever you have a nightmare. I can try to comfort you and whatnot.", she offered.
"Nah, I wouldn't wanna wake you up."
"Souda, I want to help you, and I can't do that if you don't give me a chance.", she said, looking him straight in the eyes. A small smile tugged on his lips.
"Thanks, Susen.", he said quietly.
"Anytime, Souda.", she said with a smile as well.
The two continued their eating, now feeling slightly less awkward. They laughed and talked, just enjoying each others' presence. A little voice was nagging at the back of the writer's brain.
'You like him. You have a crush on him. But guess what. He likes someone else. Not you.', it kept saying.
She bit her lip and ignored the voice as much as she could. She knew it was true but tried to think it wasn't. Which part did she want to not believe? She didn't know herself. Her mind moved to what she could do that day.
"Any plans today?", Souda asked, taking a bite of food.
"I was just gonna ask you the same thing. I might write something, I don't really know."
"Would we wanna do something together?", he suggested.
The sound of the word 'together' burned into her mind. She shook off the feeling, thinking of what they could do.
"Good idea. But the question is, what should we do?"
"Hmm, I don't know yet."
"Yet?"
"Yes, yet."
Tobi giggled lightly and the two began brainstorming. They wrecked their brains, trying to think of something fun to do. Souda let out a small laugh.
"What's so funny?", she asked.
"I just thought it was kinda funny how when I first met you, I thought I offended you so badly by saying you looked like a boy. I was like 'well there goes a chance at making a friend'. And a few days later, we're practically best friends!", he said with a pleasant smile.
"Heh, I guess it is kinda funny.", she said, smiling at the happy thought. "I'm glad that it worked out this way.", she added.
"Same.", he said with a toothy smile.
Tobi slid her phone out of her pocket and quickly checked the time. The date caught her eye.
"Woah is this really today?", she said, holding up her phone to Souda.
"Yeah, why?", he asked.
"I gotta do something today.", she said, shoving some food in her mouth.
She quickly gathered her trash and headed over to the trash can. Souda hurried and caught up with her.
"What's the rush? What is it you have to do?", he asked, confused.
"Do you have a bike or something here I can borrow?", she asked, avoiding the question.
"Yeah, but I'll only let you use it if you let me come with you."
"Why?", she asked, slightly irritated.
"For one thing, you're still weak on your leg, so it would be smarter to let me pedal the bike. And for another, I wanna make sure you don't get into trouble, okay? You're my friend and I care about you.", he said with a serious tone, holding her shoulders. She let out a small sigh.
"Fine, but I have to do something before we go, so just wait for me or something.", she said finally.
"I'll be in my room when you're ready.", he said with a triumphant smile.
The two parted to their rooms for preparations of the mystery event of the day. Souda wondered what it could be. Susen was obviously worked up over it. It must be important. But why didn't she just tell him what it was? He presumed he'd find out soon enough. His doorbell rang soon enough and he quickly opened it.
There stood the writer, but something was different. She held a bouquet of paper roses in her arms.
"Let's go. It looks like it's gonna rain so we should hurry.", she said.
Souda gave her a nod and led her to where his bike was. Susen situated herself onto the handlebars, letting Souda steer the bike. She gave vague directions to the location with a stern tone.
"Here.", she said after a while.
Souda let out a small gasp. It was the graveyard. When he had slowed down, she hopped off the bike and hurried as fast as her knee would let her. Souda quickly parked the bike and ran after her. She made many turns throughout the paths, scanning the graves with a determined look. She finally stopped at the last grave on the path and kneeled before it. Souda stood behind her, noticing the name 'Susen' on the stone.
"Hi Dad.", she said quietly to the grave, placing the paper roses in the flower cup. "I know I didn't visit you last year, so I made an extra rose this time. I joined Hope's Peak Academy, isn't that amazing! Mom is really proud of me, and I hope you are too."
Souda slid off his hat in respect for the grave. He joined his hands and gave a silent prayer for her father. The wind blew aggressively.
"Don't be worried about him, Dad. He's my friend. His name is Souda Kazuichi. I've told him about you." The wind calmed some, but the sound of faint thunder was in the distance. "Look at what I brought you.", she said.
She pulled out a piece of white chalk from her pocket and began drawing in front of the grave. Souda peeked over her shoulder and saw that she drew a small panda.
"Souda helped me remember something about you. It was you and Mom tickling me. I'm glad I remembered it.", she said with a crack in her voice.
Souda saw a small drop of water fall on the panda. It wasn't rain, it was Susen's tears. Sharp breaths and sniffles blocked any words she wanted to say.
"I wish you didn't go, Daddy.", she said weakly in between sobs.
The sound of her weeping 'Daddy' to the grave broke Souda's heart to pieces. Tears brimmed his eyes as well. Small raindrops began falling to the ground before more and more came. He kneeled beside her and gently rubbed her back. He let her cry. He also let himself shed a few tears. He hated crying, but seeing his friend in such a saddened state broke him. The rain began to fall harder as Tobi fell silent. The rain made her clothes and hair cling to her body.
"Don't worry, sir, I'll take care of her.", Souda said, breaking the silence.
Tobi looked up at him with teary eyes and raindrops on her glasses. She hugged him quickly, clinging to him. He hugged her close as well, lightly petting her hair.
"C'mon, Susen. If we stay out in this rain, we'll get sick.", he suggested.
She lifted her head and wiped her tears away with a nod. He stood up, slipping his hat back on. She lifted her arms asking for help up. He smirked and picked her up in a cradling-fashion. She didn't oppose it, in fact, she curled into his warm chest to escape the cold rain. He smiled at the small girl and how cute she looked.
When they reached the bike again, she hopped out of his arms and took her place at the handlebars. He hurried as well, wanting to escape the weather. They raced back to the academy and quickly went inside.
"Let's get out of our wet clothes and head to lunch?", she suggested.
"Sounds good to me. Hey, are you okay?", he asked.
"I am now, thanks.", she said before going in her room, eager to change clothes.
Souda did the same. He still worried about her though. She seemed so sad and lost and he felt helpless to her in that state. He slammed his fist on his dresser in his sudden rage.
"How can she thank me when I feel like I did nothing?", he asked himself.
It became evident how much he cared for his dear friend on that day.