Rui stopped by the nearest convenience store, looking for a small bouquet of flowers. As she stepped into the store, the clerk at the counter looked up and recognized her.
"Well, I'll be darned. Is that Hiro's little girl I see?"
Rui smiled. "Mr. Ishikawa, it's wonderful to see you."
Shinichi Ishikawa had been running the convenience store for years, longer than Rui could even remember. He was always happy to see Rui and her father, who had been regulars before Hiro's passing.
"You've grown up to be quite the beauty." Shinichi noted, beaming at her. "It's been a long time, dear girl, where have you been hiding?"
"Mom moved us away after Dad died." Rui explained. "I'm in town for another week for my work study, but I'll be returning home after."
"I see, I see. And how has Isane been all this time?"
"She's been better lately, I think, but Uncle Shota really had to convince her to let me do my work study."
"Good on him, then. It's so wonderful to see you again. We've missed you and your father at the shop. Oh, that reminds me, I was feeling a bit nostalgic the other day so I ordered something I haven't in years."
Rui watched the old man, curiously, as he rummaged through some boxes behind the counter.
"Ah, here it is!" Shinichi turned back towards Rui and handed her a small pouch. "They just arrived this morning."
Rui looked in the pouch and couldn't help but grin. "These are the candies Dad and I used to get."
"Peach and cherry."
Rui hugged Shinichi. "Thank you, Mr. Ishikawa. I needed a pick me up today and this is perfect."
Shinichi chuckled and hugged her back. "Then please, take them on the house. For old times' sake."
"Thank you so much."
"Now, was there something else you needed?"
"Oh, yes, I was going to visit Dad while I was in town. Do you have any flowers?"
"Yes, right over here."
Rui and Shinichi got caught up a bit as Rui selected a bouquet to take to her father's grave, then Shinichi sent her on her way and smiled fondly as he waved to her.
It was a short enough walk to the cemetery and before she knew it, Rui was stepping through the gates of the cemetery. She got her bearings, having not visited her father's gravestone since the day of his funeral, and made her way through the rows of gravestones until she found her father's. Once she had found it, she saw that it was still well kept even though she and her mother had not visited in years.
'Uncle Shota must have took care of it.' she thought, smiling. She reached up and brushed off the small collection of leaves that had gathered from the recent storm.
"Hi, Dad, it's me. Sorry it's been so long, and I'm sorry I didn't come to visit sooner."
Rui set the bouquet on the gravestone and placed some of her father's favorite incense in the small holder before lighting it. She put her hands together and closed her eyes as she offered up a silent prayer.
After a few moments, she opened her eyes and smiled sadly as she said, "I miss you, Dad. Mom does, too. It really hasn't been the same without you."
A strong wind blew through the cemetery and Rui clutched her sun hat to her head so it wouldn't get blown away.
"Things have been as well as they could be without you." She said, continuing, "Mom basically shut down and locked us away from the world after we lost you... she's been overly protective and barely agreed to let me leave home to do a work study. If it hadn't been for Uncle Shota, I'd still be locked away like some princess in an ivory tower from a cheesy fairytale."
Her smile faded a bit. "I got to be reunited with Izuku and Katsuki, my two friends from childhood? Even if it's for a short while, it's been nice to see them again." Sighing, she added, "It didn't go well, though, when I told Katsuki that I wouldn't be staying... he got really mad at me... I don't know if I did or said something that upset him, but he..."
Rui's eyes started to tear up and she reached up to wipe them away.
"Daddy, I don't know what to do... *sniff* I thought we could be friends again... but it's like *hiccup* hates me..."
The tears flowed freely just as they had the night before and Rui sank to her knees.
"What do I do...? Why does it have to hurt so much...?"
Unable to reign in her emotions, Rui cried before her father's gravestone. She tried to keep as quiet as she could, so as to not disturb anyone, but it was growing more and more difficult as she began to realize something.
"I love him, Dad... I can't lose him again..."
By the time Rui left the cemetery and made her way back home, the sun had already started setting. Rui had spent much of her time crying to her father's gravestone, but she also took the time to reminisce with him about happier things. Her eyes were sore and a bit puffy from crying, but Rui felt a bit of a weight lifted from her shoulders nonetheless.
As she reached her apartment building, she chanced a look across the street and noticed a light on in one of the upstairs rooms. She could see the silhouette of someone with spiky hair passing by the window and she wondered if that was Katsuki's room. But as the thought of Katsuki arose, so did her mess of emotions and she hurried inside where she could cry in peace.
'What's going to happen now...? Tomorrow we go back to the school... is he going to ignore me again..?'