April, the start of term at U.A:
The thought of the closeness of attending the hero course sent shivers of excitement down my spine.
Although, Shoto's argument with Endeavour, I withdrew myself away from my twin.
He became more and more concerned with the passage of time. He tried tirelessly to know the reason at least of this abrupt vanishing, but I always either stalled the conversation, or gave him no answer at all.
'It's all for your sake' I would always think. My duty is to save people, so how can I do that if I can't even protect my twin?!
'I have to do this... this is what a hero is supposed to do.' I pushed away my pain with these words, as I walked past the beautiful days I spent with my twin.
'I am the sacrifice, I should be it.' I convinced my broken self.
After a week from the entrance exam came our first day.
But I knew deep down that it won't be as fun as I before intended.
Before the argument, I planned to take the chance of attending U.A together with Shoto to get closer to him. After all, we were always set apart, since our kindergarten days. Endeavour always made sure to make us grow on our own by separating our schools. But that year is different- to become the best version of our hero selves we had to be in the best high school in Japan: U.A.
I woke up at 5 past 20, following my new routine that has 'avoidance' it's main goal.
I made my stretching in the empty training hall as fast as I could before nii-san would wake up. I ate breakfast on the vast table all alone, not even accompanied by the chirps of birds. Then, I headed to the entrance door as the clock reached 5:45. The earphones, my new protective wall, were plugged in my phone and inside my ears, playing some epic dark orchestral music, all in while I was waiting for him-Shoto.
'Should I really wait for him... wouldn't this lead to an unwanted conversation...? Didn't I promise myself I will do whatever it takes...' My mind started a debate with my emotions, again.
'But this way... he will be hurt even more...' Emotions threw that fact in Brain's face.
'But it's for the best why don't you get it! You have to ignore it! If you want to really protect him get over it already!' The rational side of me answered.
'We will meet at the train station anyway! He's going to sit right beside you to start the same conversation he would at the walk, only it will be worse for both of you! Just wait for him, it's for the best...'
And that's how I ended up staying at the entrance door.
A few moments later, Shoto showed up wearing his new cold face.
His eyes widened for a second when he saw his "beloved twin" waiting for him. Nonetheless, he quickly recovered, and muttered a "good morning" as he slid his shoes on.
He opened the door and we both exited "the mansion", walking toward our dreams.
' Walking separately towards our dreams...'
Even though he tried his best to hide it, Shoto kept staring at me the whole way to the train station.
He was worried, sad and frustrated. I could tell by one glance into his eyes, the magic doors into his soul.
With every passing moment, a strange sadness built up in my heart. Slowly suffocating me, it turned my already dark world even darker.
The tension was becoming unbearable. I shoved my hands in my pockets, and walked past my twin, head low. My brain ached, and I felt drained.
'What are those emotions...? Why do I keep feeling like this...?' My inner voice questioned.
'Now I just want to get to that station already...'
The good news: the station was right in front of us.
The bad news: there were still 6 more minutes until the train arrives.
'Well... here we come, argument waiting ahead.' I sighed internally.
Usually, when I and Shoto would travel in train, we would choose the station seats closest to the train door, so that we enter first. But this time, I sat far away in the corner, in the comfort of loneliness away from people, and nii-san.
But he followed me and sat right beside me.
'You won't escape me' was what he was trying to tell me.
I was nervous, anxious even.
I knew that even my earphones won't stop him from questioning my actions. I was worried that his sadness will make me give in and stumble in my path of protecting him.
'What am I going to do... how am I supposed to solve this...?'
Nonetheless, I wore a calm façade that (I suppose) hid the swirling vortex inside me.
-"Imoto." Shoto said simultaneously gripping my right hand. His actions snapped me out of my head.
I averted my gaze away from him lowering my head, which cast a faint shadow on my eyes.
He removed my earphones, and caressed the burnt right side of my face.
-"Did I upset you?" He asked calmly, but his hand twitched slightly.
I shook my head slowly.
-"Did I do anything wrong?" He questioned, his tone soft, but the cool of loneliness was as clear as day light.
Again, I shook my head giving him a negative response.
-"Then why are you avoiding me..?" And finally came that question.
'I knew it...'
I grit my teeth and swallowed my tears.
'I have to give him an answer... he deserves to know' I thought.
'No! He will refuse to follow your will! You have to lie.' My mind started an other debate.
'But my gut tells me that I should tell him... I just can't keep avoiding the bitter truth...'
'No I shall push him away, it's the only way...' I was determined to protect him, even if it meant his hatred toward me.
My eyebrows furrowed, a shaky breath escaped my lips as they parted to speak my mind.
Luckily, the train arrived and cut our one sided conversation.
'This saved some time... I just hope that a miracle happens and hangs the conversation where it now is... I just can't tolerate any conflict, especially between us two...' I thought as I got into the train.
The train was so full with people. There were almost no open places to sit.
My twin held my hand firmly and dragged me behind him searching for any empty seats. We kept walking through the cabin, until we reached the last one.
-"No open seats... seems we have to stand." Shoto said bluntly, still keeping his hold on my hand.
I nodded, and gripped the handle to prevent myself from falling.
The train began moving again, and the slight familiar pressure tingled in my ears.
I looked through the window in front of me, and immediately spaced out.
My brain kept swirling with ideas and thoughts, but I'm not really sure what I was thinking about specifically.
I was so caught up in my own world that I didn't notice the slight poking on my side, not until the seventh one probably.
-"...y...ey...hey, you in the U.A uniform!"
I shot my head down surprised, and the familiar sight of even blue hair and rectangular glasses popped in my sight.
-"Oh, ha-ha... h-hi..." I stuttered awkwardly, painting a smile to fake the sadness I feel deep down.
There was one other thing, too.
'Oh no, I can't remember his name... I sincerely hope he will not push me to say it..' I pleaded internally.
- "Hello! I am Tenya Iida, the boy that sat right beside you at the entrance exam introduction, do you remember me?" He said politely.
-"Y-yeah, I do." I answered, a bit awkward.
'Thank goodness' I mentally sighed in relief.
-" I am sorry I called you 'the girl in U.A uniform', I know it's rude but I don't know what your name is..."
'Oh right.. at that time I didn't have the chance to introduce myself '
-"No need to worry, I was not offended by that. My name is Hikoori Todoroki, and this is my twin brother, Shoto Todoroki." I answered pointing at my other half.
-"I am honored to meet you Todoroki Hikoori san, Todoroki Shoto kun!" He said smiling. I forced a smile back and said : "the honor is mine, Iida kun." Meanwhile, nii-san nodded in response, keeping a serious face. Then Iida stood up suggesting: " Um, Todoroki san, you can sit in my place."
-"Oh no! I really am alright, no need to bother yourself, really..." I said as a first reaction.
'This is so polite of him, but I won't be comfortable knowing that someone is suffering even for the slightest because of me...'
Not that I am now...
-"But I insist. Please take my seat." He repeated himself, still smiling friendlily.
I glanced at Shoto and saw him shifting from foot to foot uncomfortably.
-"Thanks Iida kun." I answered finally.
'Should I give nii-san the seat...?
Would this be safe...?
Damn it, just do it already! You know what is necessary!'
-"Hey, nii-san..." I called my twin, whispering as I poked his shoulder a few times.
He shifted his gaze towards me, questioning my request.
-"You... take the seat instead... you seem tired..." I continued.
-"So now you're worrying about me... nice change of events." He answered keeping his tone so low to ensure I'm the only hearing his harsh remark.
I was offended by his words. My eyebrows furrowed and my gaze sharpened against my will.
'How could he assume such a thing! of course I care about him, he is my twin!'
I lowered my head as the ice cold realization hit me.
'But of course he would assume that... your actions confessed that fake "reality" to him, instead of your hidden "truth"... there is no one other than you to blame... but you have to bear with it' I looked at his face, the pain lingering in his eyes.
I wanted to tell him otherwise so badly, my voice itched to get out and tell him all about the storm inside; about how much I love and appreciate his existence in my life, how much I care about him, how much I suffer when seeing him in such sadness, such loneliness...
But my resolve, my will to keep him safe, to guard his dreams, to protect him from our father's rage, it defeated my urge to break.
I whispered a faint "what do you know" as I took the nice offer of Iida kun.
The rest of the ride was mostly silent.
Outwardly silent, that is.
My mind was swirling with thoughts, recalling and repeating nii-san's words over and over again, until we reached our destination.
It was only a 15 minutes ride, but it seemed much longer for my pained soul.
the three of us exited the train and marched toward our "hero academia".
A five minutes walk, and we stood in front of the famous, huge U.A gates.
-"And here we are at last!" Iida said excitedly. "A few more steps and we will be students of the hero course!"
I admired his seriousness. It was an aspect to truly respect.
-"Ha-ha sorry, I must have taken you off-guard... I really am serious about these things you know.." he apologized making weird, almost robotic movements with his hand.
-"No, no it's okay. This is actually an admirable trait; you don't find a lot of people serious about what they do, which leads a lot of them to fail in their way to achieve their dreams..." I said, looking up at the sky.
'After all, without resolve, no one can accomplish anything, not even I can do...'
Iida chuckled and muttered a "thank you", admitting that the lack of resolve and tolerance of hard work these days is truly unsettling sometimes.
Nii-san, who was silent up until now, grabbed my hand, and walked us faster.
'So you're telling you feel uncomfortable... that you want us to be together...'
Instead; I turned my head to Iida sending him an apologetic look. He smiled, but seemed somewhat offended.
I looked back at nii-san, and his eyes were distant, staring away emptily.
'My heart ache is increasing every moment... I got used to it by now, but today, the pain is different, and this is unsettling...'
I would be lying if I said that this whole matter did not worry me.
But still, this is not going to make me surrender.
I have to be the sacrifice...
This was my goal, and I would reach it no matter what.
I snatched my hand out of his, and stood in my place.
'I cannot let him do this...'
Frustrated, he walked back again, froze my left hand with his right, and dragged me along.
'Freezing the side that uses ice to prevent me from melting it...
Sometimes I hate when he pays attention to these things...'
As we approached class 1-A, our classroom, nii-san's steps slowed down, and finally came to a rest.
He opened the huge metallic door with his left hand, while his right hand kept holding mine. He closed his eyes and inhaled, then melted the ice he created to bind us. After that, he walked in the empty classroom, still holding my hand and dragging me behind.
Well, almost empty. There was a white girl with black hair styled in a big ponytail, wearing the U.A uniform, in the last raw of desks, to the farthest southwest of the classroom.
He sat me on the third desk in the raw, counting from the left, then sat on the desk just beside the black haired girl, without saying a word.
'It's a silent order from him that I won't even dream about taking an other seat... damn he really is taking me head on...'
The girl looked toward us, examining. She seemed curious about our overly similar looks. A few moments and she spoke in a quiet, classy -but friendly- tone: "Hello there. My name is Yaoyaruzou Momo. What are yours?"
-"I am Hikoori Todoroki. Nice to meet you Yaoyaruzou san." I said in a shy voice.
-"Todoroki Shoto." Nii-san answered simply.
By that time, Iida kun got into the classroom and chose his seat. I got up and apologized for my twin's actions, which he accepted wholeheartedly.
I got back to my seat, and took out my notebook and started to sketch some random drawings to camouflage myself with the calmness of the class.
This way I will avoid unnecessary contact with Shoto...'
Students arrived one by one. Each one of them was special and had an interesting aura around him.
The class kept -mostly- it's silence because of lack of enough friendship level for chit-chat.
It wasn't that I did not like it that way.
-"What are you doing??"
As I said, mostly silent.
A hyped female voice chose to ask me of all people. So, I looked up reluctantly from my notebook. A pair of large, yellow irises surrounded by black sclera instead of white, stared right into mine, and they were so damn close that I jumped in my seat.
-"Oh-uh... I-I'm drawing..." I answered politely and quietly, backing my head a little bit, trying my best to be friendly, despite my pained soul.
-"Let me see!!!" The girl said excitedly. She had weird, but beautiful pink skin and cute curved white horns on her messy pink hair.
-"Wooow so pretty!!!!" she exclaimed in awe.
Then She looked at me beaming: "Oh and my name is Ashido Mina! What is your name?" she was introducing herself so energetically and loudly, but nonetheless nicely.
'Wow she's sooo loud... but she looks very nice and has a friendly energy which is a pretty good first impression I guess..'
-"My name is Hikoori Todoroki..." I answered her quietly and friendlily.
-"Um... you really look too similar to the boy beside you... are you related by any chance..?" she whispered in my ear.
I giggled softly at her question.
'It's a silly question, really.'
-"Well it's only natural, we are twins afte-" I was answering her but...
-"Oh my God!! Twiins!!!!! How adooorable!!!!!" She interrupted me, almost drowning me in her overly excited behaviour.
' I wish it could be described as you said...'
I was fighting to keep my smile as friendly as possible, with the annoyance of her loudness and her interruption and of course, my personal chaotic life.
Although since I knew she meant nothing by it, I kept things as they are, friendly.
'It's best to keep a peaceful atmosphere, even if it means bearing a little bit of annoyance... '
-"You seem really nice, Todoroki-chan! Let's be friends!!" She asked smiling so wide.
-"Thanks Ashido-san, you are friendly too. So yeah, let us be friends."
'My gut tells me I won't regret it later... I will trust my intuition...'
Suddenly, the classroom door was opened roughly, and an explosive mess of ash blond hair popped from it, which I immediately recognized. Bakugou Katsuki got into the classroom, his backpack slid lazily on his back, as he walked confidently, even cockily towards his seat.
He didn't care about inspecting his classmates, or anything else other than sitting on his desk.
Even Ashido sensed his dangerous aura and did not approach him.
When he reached his spot, his eyes fell on me. The moment he glanced at my form, his expression tensed and his eyebrows furrowed.
He tossed his bag on the ground and got closer, closer, and even closer. The nearer he got to me, the more intimidating he was getting.
The annoying fact about this, I was drinking all of this like a sponge.
Yes, all. Of. His. Angry. Attitude.
Every cell in my brain was screaming to disappear, and the danger of negativity leaking to my expression was closing by every second.
He stood finally in font of my seat, gazing at me from above.
We locked our gaze, and the intense staring made all the classroom roam in even deeper silence.
Nii-san got up and stood right beside me, his hand placed on my shoulder, glaring intensely at Bakugou.
-"I didn't get the chance to properly introduce myself to you at the entrance exam, so I will now. The name's Bakugou Katsuki. And just because you won first place doesn't mean you're anywhere near me, let alone above me, do you hear that!" He said, his tone -even though angry- held a sense of respect and acknowledgement.
Shoto's grip on my shoulder tightened, and I could feel the back of my heart ache. He didn't like Bakugou's way of talking, and it was clear in his ice cold stare.
But my mind, despite Shoto's reaction, seemed to have a complex mix of surprise and happiness of Bakugou's words, which confused me.
'Why am I feeling like this...? I only have met him three times, counting this one, yet I feel like if I have known him for so long...'
I kept silent, still staring right into his scarlet eyes.
He 'tched' then said: "Aren't you going to introduce yourself?!" He almost snapped.
-"Todoroki Hikoori. Nice to meet you too, Katsuki Bakugou." I answered with a little dryness in my tone.
'Oops, I lost control...'
His eyes widened a bit in realization, but regained composure fast enough nonetheless.
-"Yeah, nice to meet you." He said, averting his gaze in slight embarrassment.
Shoto stood in front of me in a protective stance, crossing his hands on his chest.
-"Now if you don't mind, leave us alone." He said coldly.
-"Don't order me around, protective bastard!" He threatened my twin, dangerously closing his distance to him.
'Protective bastard...?' I mentally deadpanned.
Although, Bakugou seemed to understand and was gone back to his seat, and class went back to normal.
Well, almost normal.
Angry head (as I mentally called him) went all out and laid his legs on the desk like if he was sitting at home, which triggered Iida's seriousness. He argued with him about the 'respect' to the crafts men who made this desk and the previous senpais who once studied on it.
Students kept coming meanwhile. At my left was Shoto nii-san, at my right sat a weird looking kid that had a head that looked just like a rock, his hair matching his skin colour, which I knew later that his name was Kouda.
In front of Shoto sat a student with a bird head, who had a mysterious aura around him, and in front of me sat a plain looking boy with bizarre tape like hands. Their names were respectively Tokoyami and Sero.
-"Like I care. So what middle school are you from, extra?" Bakugou screamed in Iida's face.
As the two spoke, if that was the right word, the door of the classroom opened slowly, as if the person behind it was praying to find (or do not find) something. A green mess of hair showed up which got my attention as Iida continued:
-"I-I am from Somei private academy. My name is Tenya Iida." He stated proudly, holding his glasses.
-"Somei?! A stuck-up elitist then! I will enjoy destroying you even more!!" Bakugou barked sarcastically.
-"Destroying me?! God you have no manners at all. Do you really aspire to be a hero?!" Iida raised his arms dramatically as if he was avoiding some kind of fire.
The green haired, innocent looking boy with his signature freckles looked somewhat disappointed upon seeing the arguing pair. I da seemed to notice the coming of a new student, so he stopped and looked at the door. The moment he spotted freckle faced boy he marched toward him robotically.
-"I'm from Somei private academy-" Iida kun started again as he walked toward the green head, but was interrupted by Midoriya's stuttering:
-"Y-yeah I j-just heard you, ha-ha... Ah... my name is Izuku Midoriya, pleased to meet you Iida..."
-"Midoriya... you perceived the true goal behind the entrance exam, while I did not...!! I misjudged you... although I hate to admit, but you were the superior candidate!" He said, closing his eyes and shifting his head to the right, opening his robot like arms in the process. A shadow was cast upon his features which made him look overly dramatic.
Midoriya sweat dropped and seemed disagreeing with Iida, though too shy to admit it.
On the other hand, Bakugou glared at Midoriya, unspoken words screaming in his eyes. He muttered a word under his breath, that no one but him heard.
The class was silent again, and the tension seemed to grow harder until...
-"Ah! That curly green hair!!" A girly voice stated from behind the door, which made Midoriya jolt in nervousness.
-"The Plain looking boy!!" A round faced cute girl, with a bowl cut brown hair showed up waving enthusiastically behind Midoriya. Her aura was so bright that it almost blinded me.
-"You got in! Just like Present Mic said!! Makes sense though!! That punch was awesome!!" She said excitedly, mimicking Midoriya's punch whispering "smash!" a few times.
Midoriya became as red as a tomato ready to be picked in summer, and his stuttering's intensity was doubled.
-"No! I mean...! I have to thank you for speaking on my behalf... I... well..." The green head spoke incoherently, his voice as embarrassed as his face.
-"Huh? How did you know about that?" the peach like female questioned, a bit confused.
Midoriya became speechless, and Bakugou's staring became even more intense.
The girl though seemed to do not care about Midoriya's silence and continued like normal: "So we've got our entrance ceremony and guidance classes today huh? I wonder how our teachers would be like... boy I'm so nervous...!" she spoke getting even closer to the green head, who covered his tomato-ed face embarrassed.
'I can already see them together in the future... they look so cute together.' I thought.
-"If you're here to socialize, then get out."
And silence filled the room.
And Author-chan cut the big awesome introduction of Aizawa Shota sensei just when it started.
Hikoori is trying to act a bit more stiff, but she is still torn between caring about Shoto and protecting him.
Kinda confusing, right?
I don't feel this chapter is that good...Tell me if you find anything that needs improvement, I accept constructive criticism wholeheartedly!
Also if you enjoyed something tell me about it in the reviews!
Regards!
Author-chan.