The next few days proceeded more or less the same and Rui continued to hide herself away and bury herself in her work as much as possible. During homeroom, Shota kept an eye on Katsuki- more to see how the situation with his niece would affect his judgment as the finals drew closer and closer than anything else.
Chiyo grew concerned about Rui's behavior, worried that she was running from whatever troubled her instead of confronting it. The day before the final exam, she dragged Rui out of the infirmary and pulled her along to the cafeteria for some lunch.
"So tell me, dear girl, what's on your mind. You've been rather focused on your work, but not much else lately."
Rui walked with Chiyo, unsure of where to begin or if she really wanted to talk about what happened to anyone else. Her uncle was one thing, but she didn't know if she was ready to confide in someone else.
"Whatever it is, Rui dear, I am happy to lend an ear. I've grown rather fond of you during your time here and I hate seeing you so down. Your uncle has been worried, too."
Rui sighed. "I know... there's just a lot on my mind..."
"Is it about that boy?" Chiyo watched her as they walked, seeing her face fall. "I see. Did you tell him how you felt?"
Rui shook her head. "No... I haven't gotten the chance... but maybe it's for the best after what happened..."
"Talking about it will help clear your head, dear girl. Sometimes, an outside perspective is what you need to decide what to do next."
Rui knew she was right and wrapped her arms around herself. "I told him I was returning how after the finals were over and he didn't take it well..."
"I see. And why do you think he was upset?"
"I don't know... we had just started being friends again, but I think..." Rui stopped and looked out through the windows. "I think he's afraid we'll be right back where we started..."
"Will you be able to stay in touch with your friends this time?"
Rui nodded. "Yeah, I talked to Mom about it the other night. She's happy with my progress and wants to give me that freedom. She said she should have a long time ago and she even apologized for shutting us away from the world."
"You have more than proven yourself to everyone here, Rui."
"I'm glad to hear that." Rui said, smiling at that. But her smile faded a bit and she sighed. "Granny Chiyo, what am I going to do about Katsuki..? He's so angry about me leaving..."
"What do you think you should do?"
"I want to fix things between us... I can't just leave things as they are now..." Rui looked at Chiyo, unsure of herself. "I want to tell him that I have feelings for him, but after what happened over the weekend... I don't want to make things worse by telling him... and final exams are tomorrow, so he needs to focus..."
"I think you should tell him before you leave and see how things go from there." Chiyo suggested. "If you would feel better about waiting until after final exams, then you should go with your instincts."
"You're probably right..." Rui replied, offering her a smile as Chiyo replied with, "Of course I am." She leaned down and hugged the old heroine. "Thanks, Granny Chiyo. I appreciate it."
"Any time, Rui dear." Chiyo returned her embrace, then patted her cheek and added, "Now, let's get some lunch."
As Rui and Chiyo continued on their way, Katsuki leaned against the wall just around the corner from them and processed what he had just unintentionally overheard. He had been wandering the halls, lost in thought until he turned a corner and saw Rui and Chiyo talking. He hadn't meant to stay and listen, but when he heard his name mentioned he couldn't help it.
'Rui has feelings for me..?'
Face palming before letting his head fall back against the wall, Katsuki sighed. "Damn it..."
Over the course of the week, while he had been avoiding Rui just as much as she had been avoiding him, Katsuki had really been trying to figure out why he was so upset seeing her with Izuku, why he hated hearing other guys talk about her, why he felt so protective of her, why she made him feel so at ease, and why he was so scared about her leaving again. And he was beginning to realize the answer to all of his questions, but he was running out of time- especially with the final exam being tomorrow.
'I need to fix things... I need to tell her...'
The rest of the day progressed more or less the same as it had all week and by the end of it, Chiyo insisted that Rui go home and enjoy her evening. On her way out Rui stopped by the teacher's lounge, finding her uncle sitting off to the side as he graded papers.
"Hey, Uncle Shota, you almost done for the day?"
Shota looked up to find Rui approaching his table. "Almost. I just have this last bit of grading to do. What about you?"
"Yeah, I'm all done. Recovery Girl insisted that I go home instead of staying after to help clean things up."
"That's good; you've been working really hard lately."
"How long do you think you'll be?"
"Probably another hour or two, why?"
"Would you like to take that rain check on dinner?"
"Sure, that sounds good."
Rui smiled. "Great, I'll stop by the store on the way home, then." She waved to her uncle and made her way out of the school, heading towards the main gate of the campus. As she walked, she thought more on what Chiyo had said and wondered what she would even say to Katsuki.
'I really should wait until after the final exam to say anything to him... I don't want him to lose focus...'
As she descended the stairs to the sidewalk, she spotted Katsuki nearby with Eijiro and Denki.
'What if I didn't tell him at all..?' she wondered, hesitantly returning Eijiro and Denki's waves as she drew nearer. 'How much would I really regret it if I didn't..? Do I even want to find out..?'
"Hey, Rui, how've you been? We haven't seen much of you lately." Eijiro asked.
"I'm alright, just been busy in the infirmary. How have classes been?"
"Really tough with the final exams and all, but we're managing just fine."
"That's good. Hopefully you'll be able to relax after they're over and done with."
"Yeah, hopefully. So what're you up to tonight?"
"I'm having dinner with my uncle, so I need to stop by the market store on the way home."
"Nice, nice. What about this weekend? I hear you're leaving after the final exams at the end of your workstudy, but do you think you'll have time to hang out with us one more time before you go?"
Rui's heart sank a bit when she glanced over at Katsuki and saw the look he had. She offered Eijiro and Denki a smile and nodded, giving her reply as Katsuki's phone rang and he turned away to answer. "I'd be more than happy to make time for that. It'd be nice to be able to say goodbye to everyone before I have to catch the train back."
"Cool, we'll have to get together later then and come up with something awesome to do before you leave."
"Sounds good, just keep me posted?"
"Sure thing. We'll see you later, alright?"
Rui smiled again, this time one that was much more genuine. "Yeah, see you guys later." She started making her way towards the market, stopping only when she sensed someone behind her. She glanced back to see that Katsuki was following behind her and was unsure if it was intentional or just coincidental.
"What?" Katsuki asked, seeing her hesitating for a moment.
"N-Nothing, sorry..." Rui returned her attention to the task at hand and took a left at the next intersection, heading down the street a few blocks before reaching the market store.