That Saturday, as planned, Shoto went to Kahoko's house to meet with her and Hitoshi.
He knocked on the door.
Her mother answered it. "Mr Todoroki! Hey, Kaho is just getting ready." She smiled. She turned to call up the staircase. "Kaho! Your friend from school is here!"
"Just let him in, I'll be down in a sec!" Kahoko's voice called down the stairs.
Mrs Sano let Shoto inside. "Do you want a drink of anything?"
Shoto shook his head. "No, thank you ma'am." He sat down.
Mr Sano came in from the kitchen. "Mr Todoroki?" He asked the new guest.
Shoto gave a stiff nod. "Nice to meet you, Sir." He bowed his head.
Mr Sano nodded. "Likewise. My daughter speaks highly of you."
Shoto flushed. She talks about me… to her parents? "I think highly of her as well."
Mrs Sano raised a brow at her husband. "So, you're on the hero course? You're the one who came second in the Sports Festival."
He nodded. "Yes, ma'am."
"It's nice to see her hanging out with new friends. I can see a change in her already." She sighed. "She laughs more. She's getting back to her old self."
Shoto smiled to himself.
"Todoroki?" Kahoko had come down the stairs and stepped into the living room. "You're early, as per usual."
"Sorry, I needed to get out of the house."
She smiled. "I'm not complaining. We just have to wait for Hitoshi to get his butt into gear." She sat beside him.
He quickly scanned her. Cute…
She was wearing casual jeans and a baggy powder blue t-shirt with her white beret and baseball shoes. Simple, yet pretty.
"Kaho-nee!" Natsume came down the stairs. "Oh, hey Todoroki-nii." He grinned.
Todoroki-nii? Shoto got a warm fuzzy feeling in his chest. Being the youngest of the Todoroki siblings, he had never been referred to as an older brother before. It felt good.
"Kaho-nee, can you help me with this question?" He shoved a homework sheet into her face. "It's for math on Monday."
She took the sheet and read through the question.
Shoto watched as she thought carefully before giving her brother advice. Is it me, or does she look a little paler than usual?
She frowned. "Hey, Todoroki, you're smart…" She shoved the sheet into his face.
He blinked.
"Am I figuring this out right?"
He looked at her pencilled out solution. He thought for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, seems about right."
"Wow! Thank you!" Natsume grinned taking the sheet and heading back upstairs.
At the arcade, Shoto surprisingly had a lot of fun.
"Damn it!" Kahoko whined.
He looked over to see her trying to use the claw machine. He chuckled.
Kahoko had a stubborn pout donning her lips.
"Are you having trouble there?" He smirked walking up to her. "Where did Shinso go?"
"Bathroom." She bit her lip.
The claw had a hold of one of the soft toys by the foot.
Shoto leaned against the wall, watching.
The plush dropped, missing the winning shoot.
"Really?" She rummaged in her pocket for another coin.
"You really want that?" He stood straight.
"Yeah…" She grumbled.
He put his hands on her shoulders and moved her sideways, away from the control panel. He took out a coin and fired up the machine.
Kahoko blushed. Without Hitoshi… this feels like a date…
"Here."
Kahoko blinked to see the white and ginger cat plush that she'd been trying to get, shoved into her face. "You got it?"
He smiled. "I'm good at those things."
She took the toy and hugged it tight. "Thank you, Todoroki!"
"No problem." He scratched the back of his neck. Why is she so happy?
"So, what did I miss?" Hitoshi returned. "Oh, great, you got it! You try to win that every time we come here." He noted, gesturing towards the stuffed cat in Kahoko's arms.
"Todoroki got it for me." Kahoko stated.
Hitoshi let a small smile grace his lips. "That was nice of him."
Shoto stood awkwardly. "Yeah, I think she might have destroyed the machine with the amount of change she was feeding it."
She pouted.
"It looks a lot like Todoroki now that I look at it closer." Hitoshi wiggled his brows. "Is that why you wanted it?"
She blushed a deep shade of red. "No, don't be silly." She shoved the plush into her backpack.
Hitoshi shot a wink towards the dual haired teen.
Shoto looked to the ground.
Kahoko headed towards the food court. "C'mon, I'm hungry!" She called.
"I'll buy!" Hitoshi jogged to catch up with her.
Shoto tailed behind. It really did feel like I was winning that thing for my girlfriend or something… and she looked so cute when she was happy. He shook his head. Jeez, I need to shake off these feelings and fast.
"After this do you want to head home?" Hitoshi asked Kahoko as they ate.
She shrugged. "I don't mind, I'm having fun."
"I've been watching you today, you seem tired." He went on.
She looked up at him. "I'm fine, Hitoshi."
He sighed. "You've been training in the gym until it's hard for you to walk. You spar with Midoriya a lot too."
She looked down at her food.
"I know you want to work hard to rank up… but it doesn't mean that you have to sacrifice your health."
"Like I said, I'm alright." She mumbled.
Shoto watched them quietly.
"I've just had some funny dreams lately, it kinda makes me not want to go to sleep. So, I've been training hard so that I'm so tired that I have no choice but to close my eyes." She confessed.
Hitoshi frowned. "Dreams?"
She nodded. "About Tama-chan."
Shoto raised an eyebrow. "What about him?"
"Sometimes it's the same old nightmare about what happened, but also sometimes I see him, before he died, he's whispering something to me… but I can't figure out what it was. I dunno if it was good bye or if he was saying one of his battle cry chants…" A tear trailed down her cheek. "I've found that if I'm so exhausted… I don't have those dreams, but if I go to bed normally and not really tired, I see him."
Hitoshi swallowed and reached over, taking her hand in his. "Kaho…"
Shoto saw the pain in his eyes.
"It's been over a year, I normally have the nightmare of when it happened… but this is new, and I dunno why it's happening now."
"Maybe, now you're in UA and trying to move on, your subconsciousness still wants you to remember him?" Shoto voiced.
"They say twins have an unbreakable bond, even after death." Hitoshi added.
Kahoko cleared her throat. "I'm alright, though." She wiped her eyes. "Sorry, for being a downer." She managed a smile.
After lunch, everyone decided to make their way home.
"Kaho! Look at the fountain!" Hitoshi called.
She looked around to see the fountain changing colours. "Pretty!" She grinned with delight.
"Let's take a photo!" He flung his arm around her shoulder and pulled out his phone and snapped a photo.
Kahoko looked over to see Shoto looking at his phone. "Todoroki!" She ran up to him. "Us too?"
"Hmm?" He raised a brow.
She grinned and grabbed his phone, switching the camera on. "Come here!" She hugged his arm and gave a big smile.
He gave a soft smile of his own as she pressed the shutter button. "Why my phone?" He asked.
"Because you have a better camera than mine!" She stuck out her tongue and sent the photo to herself. "There you go… now! Both of you get in this with me!" She readied his phone again.
Shoto sighed and stood next to her, putting his arm around her. "Fine…"
Hitoshi took the phone from her since he was taller and held it out in front of them. He hugged her from the other side. "Three… two… one!"
Kahoko took the phone and smiled fondly at the photo. She sent that one to herself too, then handed the phone back to Shoto.
Shoto slipped it into his pocket. "Thanks guys, for inviting me."
Hitoshi grinned. "No problem. But it was all Kaho's idea."
Shoto looked to Kahoko.
"I thought you could do with a good time with friends." She smiled at him. "Beats being stuck in the house, right?"
He blushed a little.
"C'mon, we should head for the station." Hitoshi said.