Ch. 11

.o0o.

The project was going strangely better than you had ever hoped it to.

Eto-San liked all of your sketches except one, and that one you decided to scrap from the beginning anyway.

With your ability and his people skills, you two were able to get your design approved by Kayama-Sensei and you headed down to the support classes to get materials you would need.

You and he were hyped. You wore a smile on your face brighter than you could ever remember, because you were allowed to.

Come on, Hanae. Don't ruin the moment for yourself.

You knew how to sew, and you had made an outfit or two in your day, but it had been a while. You hadn't been this excited for anything for a very long time.

Not even your wedding. Ha.

Speaking of, you still had no idea when it would be. You prayed it wouldn't be before the Sports Festival. When you made your mark, you didn't want to be known as 'Todoroki Shoto's wife' when you did it. If you made your name, then got married, however, you would be known as Nazumi Hanae, Hanazmae, the one who made her mark, then married Todoroki Shoto.

That's how you wanted to go down in history. Not as a trophy wife. Not as a daughter of a businessman-not even as an artist.

You wanted to make your name...the person that outsmarted, outran, outdid the hero course. Simply because you wanted to.

Did anyone else know of this coup? Of course not. Only you did. And you wanted to keep it that way. That was why you were so reserved at first about Todoroki-Kun escorting you home.

But, here you were.

You shook off those feelings and rushed down the hallway alongside Eto-San.

"I had no idea we would be taking off this quickly on the assignment," he said excitedly. "You did an excellent job in your designs, it made it that much easier!"

You smiled widely as you sauntered down the hallway, your sketchbook in hand. "Thank you, Eto-San. That means a lot to me."

"It's the truth! I knew you were talented, but who knew you could work well under pressure?"

You looked away, smiling tightly. "You flatter me."

"Oh, I overstepped my boundaries," he said quickly, "I am sorry. Sometimes I do that."

"No, it's okay. I just-" am not used to compliments from a man in my life- "have a lot going on."

"I see. Well, I apologize, still."

You nodded. "Thank you."

You kept speed walking down the hallway, looking at the signs and making your way down the stairs. There was no way you were headed in the right direction.

"This is the right way, right?" Eto-San asked you.

Yeah, that was a bad sign.

"Uh," you stuttered, "I...Hm…"

You closed your eyes, thinking of the map. You memorized some of it, but Good Lord…

"It's this way," you determined, continuing in the direction you were going in originally.

"I remember seeing a sign on my way upstairs today," you said. "It's downstairs….wait, down this way."

It was all coming back to you. It was down the opposite way, closer to the Hero Courses for obvious reasons, and downstairs. You remembered now.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Okay. Lead the way."

You laughed to yourself, and the two of you started heading back the other direction.

"We're going to walk past the classroom and look like a couple of idiots," he snickered.

You bit your lip to keep you from laughing out loud, but you did let out a chuckle.

"No," you protested good-naturedly, "We are going to look like we got lost on our way to the support course."

"My point exactly," he laughed again.

This time, you did laugh.

The two of you walked swiftly down the large hallways, having small talk every so often and laughing as you cracked jokes to one another.

This behavior was hardly ladylike, you thought to yourself. But it sure was enjoyable.

He tapped your arm as you walked, getting your attention.

"Is that All Might?" He whispered excitedly.

You nodded quickly, your heart rate picking up. You hadn't seen him up close since you were young, and back then you were too shy to do anything other than hide behind your mother's skirt. You doubted he even knew who you were.

"It looks like he's taking a class somewhere."

Indeed, it looked that way. There was a line of people behind him, all of them students it looked, and they were all out of uniform. They were almost certainly Hero students.

You straightened your posture as they approached, determined to leave a decent impression on the Number One Hero.

You looked at him with a gentle smile and a polite nod, Eto-San following suit with you.

"Good day, young students." He said jovially.

"Good day to you." You said in return. You were proud of yourself for keeping your cool in front of such an idol.

The students you passed were all fairly smiley and ready for the day, chattering idly and laughing loudly.

You could only smile at the happiness that surrounded you.

You kept walking with Eto-San, but then, you heard a shout.

"Oi! Is that Hanazmae?!"

You almost flinched, but turned around gracefully nonetheless. You smiled and nodded to the redhead that pointed you out. "At your service," you said.

"Oh my God, no way! Hanazmae goes to this school?" Someone else shouted excitedly.

You chuckled with a sly shrug. "I suppose people would find out one way or another. Promise not to tell the media?"

"Oh, hell nah!"

You smiled politely and waved again, speeding up to walk with Eto-San.

He looked at you curiously, looking at your feet then at you.

"How can you run in those?" he asked with a small chuckle. "Doesn't it hurt?"

You shrugged. "Years of practice," you giggled.

He laughed along with you as you made your way down to the support classes.

"Nazumi-San."

You stopped suddenly, surprised to hear Todoroki-Kun's voice, as normal.

He seemed to be jogging down the way from the class that was following All Might.

"What is it, Todoroki-Kun?" you asked worriedly.

He was catching his breath so he took you a moment. "My father has set the dates."

Your blood rushed out of your face. "For the wedding?"

"And the announcement of it."

You were stunned, so he took your speechlessness as an opportunity to continue.

"April 24th."

Just before the Sport's Festival. You sighed in defeat, but didn't let it get to you.

"Okay. And the wedding?"

"Two weeks after the Sport's Festival. The exact date is still in the works."

Wonderful.

"The announcement will be at a gala held at the Royale Hotel in Kyoto. My father has told me that he has informed your father of the dates and details. If I get more information, I will be sure to tell you."

You nodded. "Thank you. And, also, I hope this isn't too petty a request, but...perhaps we could take the train home tonight instead of walking like we did. It took quite a bit of time."

He nodded. "Let's discuss it later. I have to get going."

You bowed slightly. "Of course. My apologies. I wish you luck, Todoroki-Kun."

Before he turned to leave, you could have sworn you saw the ghost of a smile on his lips.

You turned back to Eto-San again, knowing he heard if not the entire conversation he heard at least some part of it, and said, "Please do not say anything of what you heard to anyone."

He nodded. "Not a word."

You smiled gratefully. "Thank you."

And you were off.

.o0o.

Todoroki jogged up to the back of the line where his class was heading outside.

The boy with the electricity quirk was in the back as well and saw the exchange. Todoroki was sure he didn't hear anything, though. At least, somewhat sure.

"Went back to get her autograph or something?" He said jokingly.

He didn't say anything for a moment or two.

"What?"

"Yo, that was Hanazmae! Do you not know who she is?"

He blinked.

The one with the hardening quirk nudged the blonde, saying. "Of course he knows who she is. Who doesn't?"

"Yeah, you know who she is...right?"

He didn't really know how to respond. He didn't really care.

"...sure."

He left the conversation at that, letting people speculate as they wished. No skin off his nose, not really.

But who was the other kid with her? He seemed rather friendly, and he heard them down the hall laughing together.

Who was he to care? She could live her life as she wanted to, at least let her have a little bit of exposure before they got married. Besides, she wasn't the type to...have romantic affairs while previously engaged, even against her own will.

Right?

Perhaps he just cared about her wellbeing, that's why he was so reserved about her being with the guy. If her father found out she was spending time with someone else, things could get real ugly real quick.

Yes, that's what it was. That urge to tear her away from him was to protect her from her father, and his wrath.

But, he'd never felt this way before, not toward anyone. Well, maybe that one teacher that Fuyumi kept talking about, but the situation was the same, in a certain sense.

Except he's not getting married to his sister.

And even then, this feeling, this...hatred was something he hadn't experienced, not this intensely.

And now he couldn't get it off his mind.

What if she was interested in him romantically? The problems with that could be enormous. She should distance herself from him, so she wouldn't get hurt-

What was he thinking? He's sounding...he's sounding like her father.

What is he?

"Todoroki!"

He turned to the voice barking at him.

Wait, where was he again? It was Aizawa's voice talking to him, he knew that...

"Yes, Sensei?"

"You're next. Time to wake up"

Oh. right. They were out training, beginning a new exercise for the limits of their quirks.

He didn't even remember getting here.

That girl was flooding his mind. The image of her and him plaguing him.

He tried to shake it away, but it held tight to him, refusing to leave him. So he merely set it aside.

"Yes, sir."

.o0o.