"Sayuri, are you okay? You look kind of…" Fuyumi trailed off, not wanting to offend her. She frowned and leaned over, staring at the dark bags beneath her friend's eyes. "Have you been getting enough sleep?"
She sat there for a moment, zoned out, and finally realized that Fuyumi was frowning. Sayuri shook her head a bit and attempted a smile. "I'm fine."
"Are you sure? You haven't been staying up late, have you?"
"No, no! I'm fine, really! I'm just…a little bit sleepy. It's not a big deal." In truth, Sayuri felt ragged. She had been tutoring Eri for almost three weeks. Working a full-time job as a kindergarten teacher, rushing to tutor Eri three times a week as soon as she got off work. It was still a wonder that Dabi had so readily accepted that she was just visiting Fuyumi more often.
I feel like I'm going to pass out. I can't skip out on this, though. It's been forever since I actually got to hang out with Fuyumi. She sipped her tea and glanced toward the door warily. Fuyumi had said that it was just her and her brothers that were home, but Sayuri was still on edge.
"You're still tutoring that little girl, aren't you?"
Sayuri slouched a little, holding her cup of tea tighter with both hands. "Well…yeah. I can't just leave her alone."
"She has her father, though. Sayuri, you don't have to do everything, okay? You look like you haven't been sleeping," Fuyumi finally pointed out.
"I've been sleeping," she argued. It's just not much. It's only five or six hours. I'm staying up late to think of new lesson plans for my class and separate lesson plans for Eri. Not to mention studying recipes. I feel like I'm starting to come apart. I hate feeling like this, but I can't just abandon Eri!
The other woman sighed in frustration and leaned across the table, setting a hand on Sayuri's shoulder. "Listen. If you run yourself ragged like this, how can you lead a class? It will be bad for your class and for that girl if you're not able to think clearly. You know sleep-deprived teaching is just as bad as drunk teaching."
Sayuri snorted and shook her head. Unfortunately, her fatigued brain was now conjuring up the image of her friend Fuyumi trying to lead a class while drunk and it was too funny for her to not laugh at. "You shouldn't drink before you teach!"
"And you shouldn't teach before you get a full night's sleep!" Fuyumi stated firmly, ignoring the laughter. "Look at me, Sayuri. I want you to promise me right now. Call that girl's father and tell him that you need some time off. Okay? Promise me."
"It's not that easy." Sayuri frowned and slouched again, her snow-pale hair falling around her face. "It's hard to explain…but I don't like leaving her alone with him. I mean, that's dumb, right? He's her dad. And he hasn't done anything to show he's a threat to her. Not in front of me, anyway. I'm…trying to get some evidence, if there is anything going on."
She finished her cup of tea in a gulp and sighed. "I just want to help her. I mean, it's really hard to explain this. She's not…normal. Like, she doesn't really smile. She doesn't ask for stuff, like kids her age do. She does whatever I ask and she's really polite. I'd chalk it up to being raised well, but it's like I can almost think she's afraid of something. She won't tell me that something's wrong, though."
Fuyumi listened intently, her own frown deepening. When Sayuri finished, she lowered her head. "I understand where you're coming from. You have a gut feeling that something isn't right."
"Exactly! I did a home visit…and everything checked out; she has all of the necessities and her dad is pretty well-off. It's just like an itch that I can't shake off. Like something isn't right. I wish I could just take her out of there, but-"
"But that would be kidnapping," Fuyumi finished for her. "And then her father could have you arrested and she might be worse off than before."
"It's so frustrating. She's such a sweet kid. I want to help her, but I don't know what else I can do besides show up and spend time with her."
Fuyumi poured some more tea for them both, seeing that Sayuri's cup was empty. "So what's her father like?"
Sayuri stared down at the steaming cup, goose bumps raising on her skin just thinking about Chisaki. "He's around our age and he's raising her by himself. Well…I guess he does have this friend that's always there. But I don't really know what their relationship is, to be honest. He works from home and he makes a decent living. He just…isn't very affectionate with his daughter."
"He might just be unsure of himself. If her mother left them recently, he's probably not sure of how to be a parent on his own."
"He…keeps trying to touch me." She saw Fuyumi's face go red and she shook her head. "N-not like that! Get your mind out of the gutter! No! He keeps…like…trying to touch my arm or one time he tried to touch my hair. It was really weird; especially since he's always wearing gloves, so it's not like he could actually feel anything. I don't know why, but it makes me nervous."
Fuyumi began to say something, however she was interrupted by the dining room door sliding open behind her. She saw Sayuri tense and quickly lower her eyes to the table top. The young woman turned to look over her shoulder and greeted her father quietly, commenting that he was home earlier than usual.
Sayuri's hands were shaking so she gripped the cup of tea tightly, trying to hide her anxiety. She bit the inside of her cheek so hard that she tasted blood. It felt like her stomach was about to toss up everything she had eaten that day. Why? It's been so many years so why am I still so afraid?
Memories flashed to the front of her mind. That voice demanding she take his son's injury. The threat of not letting her leave the Todoroki house until she obeyed. That horrific pain and the tears she shed. The looks on her parents' faces when they heard what happened to her; so disgustingly proud of something that she had been forced to do.
She found another memory pushing all of this aside. A reassuring hug from a little boy that was just doing his best to comfort a crying little girl. Touya. Sayuri closed her eyes and tried to remember what had happened to him, but she drew a blank. Did anyone ever tell me? I remember him being here and then…what?
"Sayuri?" Fuyumi's soft voice cut through her thoughts and the other young woman gave her a concerned, kind of guilty, look.
"Sorry. Did you say something?"
"Um…my father asked-"
"Your cousin was accepted to UA. What's her quirk?" the man demanded.
She frowned and her eyebrows furrowed. "Um…I think…Ume's quirk is like his. It's powered by calories, but it's an energy blast." Sayuri's nervous nausea grew at the mention of her cousin because she now had to think of someone else. Someone she had not thought of in quite a while.
"I see."
"Oh! Sayuri, I didn't know that your cousin was-!" Fuyumi tilted her head when her friend stood up. "Sayuri?"
"I…I have to go. I'm sorry." She hurried away from the table with her bag, slipping past Endeavor to sprint out of their house as quickly as possible. Before anyone could notice the tears that were running down her cheeks.
Sayuri had managed to keep her mind off of the heartbreak for so long. It was easy when she was busy with work and it was even easier once Dabi entered her life. However, now he was at the forefront of her thoughts and it felt like her heart was being shredded with knives. Calorie Bomb.
Shift P.O.V
Dabi was standing at the end of the bed. Hands in his pockets, head tipped back to stare up at the hero's poster. He smirked and imagined it going up in flames, but he knew better. Sayuri would hate him if he destroyed it. His best option would be to convince her to take it down.
You're not even a threat, he thought as he scoffed at it. I've been here for almost two months…and she's never mentioned you. You're not even in her head anymore. I mean…it's been how many years?
The villain had started to hate the hero's grinning, cheerful face and encouraging note enough to do a little research on him. Calorie Bomb's real name was Shirayuki Umetarou. A hero with a quirk that allowed him to use the calories he ate to power himself up. The more calories, the stronger he got. Of course, he burned through them pretty fast and easily fell into low blood sugar fits.
A hero that went to UA and was born the same year as Endeavor. This had been interesting and, for a moment, Dabi thought it would be fun to try to pit the two heroes against each other. His hopes for this were ruined when he came across the most important information.
Calorie Bomb had been killed by a villain almost eight years ago. He had been dead for almost eight years. He left behind a wife, a very young daughter, and his elderly mother. So this only further satisfied Dabi's curiosity. Sayuri would have been a young teenager at the time that Calorie Bomb died and any love she had for him would have just been a girly little crush. She had been so young and he had a family. Just a stupid teenage crush, probably.
Dabi was still staring up at the poster when he heard the apartment door unlock. He went to the bedroom doorway and saw Sayuri leaning her forehead against the apartment door, her shoulders shaking and her pale hair hiding her expression from him. He raised an eyebrow and quietly left the bedroom.
As he got closer to her, he heard her sobbing and his mouth twitched into a frown. "Sayuri."
She jumped a little and half-turned to him, but then turned away again. Wiping at her face, trying to hide her tears from the villain. "Oh! Um…I thought you'd still be out."
His eyes narrowed a bit and he gripped her shoulder. "What're you crying about?" Dabi's frown became a scowl when she tugged away from him almost violently. Her back was still turned to him, one of her hands lifted to try to hide her face. "Sayuri."
"It's…nothing. I'm going to get dinner started, okay? Just…just wait on the couch or something." Sayuri's voice was breaking as she spoke, tears falling to the floor beneath her. She hurried away from him to the kitchen, clearly thinking he was going to just obey her wishes and sit on the couch. She was wrong.
Dabi was faster than her and soon had a grip on her upper arm. He turned her and pressed her back against the wall, his free hand going beneath her chin so she was forced to look at him. What he saw made him both furious and concerned.
Sayuri's face was bright pink, her lilac eyes shining wet and bright. Her cheeks were soaked with tears, her soft pink lips twisted in utter despair. This was a side of her that Dabi had never seen before. She got upset sometimes, but this was a level of sadness that she had never let him see.
He hated this. He had no idea how to deal with this. So he did the only thing that he could think to do. Dabi released her arm and her chin. He slid his arms around her waist, pulling her against him and still scowling. "I don't know what happened…but you're coming with me."
Not waiting for her to respond, he took her hand and crossed the apartment to the couch. Dabi sprawled on the cushion and pulled her down on top of him, his arms slipping around her again to keep her in place. He felt a flicker of satisfaction when she rested her cheek against his chest.
Shift P.O.V
That hug…reminded me of that one time. Touya. Sayuri closed her eyes and listened to the steady beating of Dabi's heart, letting it settle her into a relaxed state. She felt his fingers run through her long, pale hair and it further calmed her. "I'm sorry you had to see that meltdown," she muttered. "Just…really embarrassing."
He was quiet for a moment before he spoke. "You ugly cry."
"What?!" She pushed herself up a little and saw him smirking. "You…jerk." Sayuri pouted and looked away. "Don't tease me like that."
"How do you want me to tease you?" Dabi's fingers tangled in her hair and he guided her face toward his. Their lips met as Sayuri's hands rested on his shoulders and his left knee pushed between her legs. His free hand slid along her side before a finger hooked into one of her belt loops.
She felt her pulse speed up and Sayuri slowly parted her lips when his tongue nudged between them. The kiss deepened and her stomach seemed to do a flip when his tongue rubbed against hers. It withdrew after a few seconds of this and his teeth closed on her lower lip, gently. Her eyes had closed when the kiss started, but opened quickly to focus on his bright turquoise ones.
When Dabi released her lip, he smirked and tugged at her belt loop to pull her closer. "That's the kind of teasing you like…right?"
Sayuri's face turned bright pink and she turned her head to the side. "I guess…I'm not really against it," she murmured, embarrassed.
"So…" He turned them both abruptly, pinning Sayuri down on the couch beneath him. His lips drew into a smirk, the light catching the staples in his skin to make them glint faintly for an instant. "I wonder how much teasing it's gonna take to make you tell me where you've really been going every other day."
Her eyes widened and she felt her heart skip a beat. "Wh-what?"
"I know you haven't been seeing Fuyumi. So you're gonna tell me the truth."
