So, if any of you guys read the post note in the last chapter, you'll know I had a little something special planned for this chapter. And I decided to do it. You'll figure it out pretty quickly I think. Anyway, though, Christmas is coming up. When I was little, the Christmas season used to feel so long, but nowadays it feels so short. Like, it was just Thanksgiving! Where has all that time gone? I think maybe it's because I'm so much busier with actual life now compared to when I was a carefree kid. Like, for example, I'm writing stories. In light of that, let's get to it!

"...Why do you think she was sent home last night?"

Balancing my chopsticks on the side of my finger, I give Midoriya a slight shake of the head. "I don't know. I can't think it was good."

"But I heard she said she would change," he insists, setting his rice bowl back on the table. I flick the chopsticks so they spin a rotation in my grasp.

"She did, but it was odd. She looked similar to the way she did back when were kids whenever she was hatching some sort of plan."

Midoriya considers this for a moment. "Then you think she's planning something?"

"I'm not sure," I sigh. "That's what her behavior reminded me of, but it was different. It used to be when she was plotting something, she'd get really excited over it, but yesterday she was more...cocky." The memory might be a bit blurry around the edges, but I can still see her pale eyes sparkling as she spilled her ideas to me. Her eyes had the same energy yesterday, but seeing it now somehow sent alarm bells ringing inside me. Her intent no longer feels innocent.

"Well, maybe that's just because her personality's changed a bit," Midoriya reasons.

"Could be," I agree. Honestly, though, I don't think that's all it is.

"Don't be late to class," Iida reminds me as he heads towards the exit. He salutes briefly to Midoriya. "See you after school."

The boy across from me raises his hand with an uneasy smile. "Yeah, see you."

"I should get going, too." I stand and push in my chair, pretending not to notice when he eyes my untouched plate with concern. "You should wake Bakugo so you aren't cleaning by yourself."

"Ahaha, I don't think Kacchan would be very happy about that."

I give him a small smile. "He doesn't have the right to complain, though. This is his punishment, after all. See you tonight."

"Have fun at school. And don't worry about Kyou too much. She probably just went to see her family."

I ponder Midoriya's words as I walk to school. Is she on good terms with her father? She always used to prefer her mother over him. I wonder if their relationship soured after Mrs. Kyou's passing. I really hope they became closer afterwards, but something tells me that isn't the case.

When I slide open the door to the classroom, the absence of clamoring chatter tugs my eyes to the desk in the back corner. Her feet crossed atop her desk, my childhood friend taps away at something on her phone. With all of the girls who usually approach her still missing from the room, our arrived classmates all eyeball her in curious, nervous silence. For a moment I watch her as well.

I subtly breathe in a deep breath as I close the door behind me. Whether she's planning something or not, yesterday was the first time the two of us were able to talk with each other without one of us setting the other off. At the very least, she might be willing to interact with me calmly for awhile.

Well aware of the number of stares that have shifted to me, I make my way back to her, coming to lean back against the desk in front of her. She finally seems to notice me when I position myself. Her head lifts, her dusty pink eyes appearing from under wine purple bangs, and for the briefest of moments, something akin to panic erupts behind them. It's gone so fast I'm forced to wonder if I imagined the expression, her lips settling into a smirk.

"Morning!" she greets, pocketing her phone. "Miss me?"

I decide to avoid the obvious question, and instead choose to ask, "How's your dad?"

"I suppose he's doing just fine. Looked healthy enough when I saw him. I'm sure he'd be delighted if you visited."

"Maybe I should."

She doesn't respond immediately, and for a second I get the distinct impression that my words have caused her to freeze. But, like before, her initial response is quick to pass. She breaks out of her momentary stupor with a sudden snort. "I'm sure your dad would be ecstatic to learn about that." Her tone turns mocking. "Poor little Todoroki, seduced by the villainous witch."

I flinch, but it isn't her sardonic jab that bothers me. Witch, when we were little, was a favorite word of my dad's when talking about the girl I would always sneak out to play with, and every time he said it to her face, it would always get a rise out of her. Many times, after all the yelling and insulting had stopped, she'd burst into tears.

"I-I'm n-not...a witch!"

"Kyou, you're back." I break eye contact with the girl seated before me and look over at Asui, newly arrived. She glances between the two of us, greets me with a nod I politely return, then asks, "What happened yesterday? Mr. Aizawa said he sent you home for the night. Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, it's good," Kyou smirks. "I just hung out in my room all night. Not much different from being here."

Uraraka slips into the seat next to her. "Well I'm glad you came back for school today! It already feels empty in here with Midoriya and Bakugo gone."

Everyone begins to shuffle to their seats, and I glance to the front of the room to see our teacher walking up to the blackboard. With one last look at my childhood friend, who meets my gaze slyly, I head over to my desk. As I sit down, Yaoyorozu leans her elbows gracefully on her desk and smiles, "I'm glad the two of you have started to get along again."

"I am too," I agree absently. She must notice the vagueness of my voice, because her smile falls a bit.

"The two of you used to be close, right?"

I nod, and before she can ask anything else, Mr. Aizawa begins to speak. Class drags on as normal, and during lunch, Iida comes back to sit with me. Yaoyorozu goes out of her way to join Uraraka, Jiro, and Kyou. I find myself routinely glancing their way as I eat.

Most of the girls have really begun to befriend Kyou, if you could call it befriending. That's probably what it seems like to them, but the way Kyou only ever responds to them with quick, simplistic answers shows she's still closed off to them. Hagakure and Ashido are the only two girls who still don't approach her, and it's clear why. Evidently, she can't hide her animosity towards them the same way she can with the others. And I do think there's hostility. Despite the fact that she smiles and puts up with the other girls, there's something stony in her eyes when she looks at them. She's turned into someone completely estranged from the Megumi I knew.

It's disturbing.

When the school is over, I leave by myself. Back in the old days, the second our martial arts class was over, Megumi used to latch onto me and we'd be together until sundown. Now, she doesn't even glance my way. Everyone seems to think we've gone back to being friends, but honestly I can't help but feel like she treats me like her enemy.

I push open the door to the dorms only to be bombarded with a raging Bakugo. A feather duster lies discarded and half featherless on the floor, evidently thrown down earlier, as the temperamental blonde overwhelms a nervous Midoriya with shouts that ring off of every wall. I sigh and approach Midoriya. Due to Bakugo's tantrum, I'm forced to get unusually close to him so he can hear me say, "I see you've had an eventful day."

"Ah, not really. He was working quietly until a moment ago."

"DON'T IGNORE ME!"

"If you don't like that you have to do this," I face the blonde, "you shouldn't have started a fight. You brought this on yourself."

"SHUT UP! THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU!"

"Then don't argue like this while I'm around."

"Did Kyou come back?" Midoriya wonders. Thoroughly disregarded, Bakugo lets out a noise somewhere between a growl and a yell before storming off to the boy's wing of the dorm.

With the nuisance taken care of, I confirm, "She did."

"Did she say why she was sent home?"

I sigh. It feels like I've been sighing a lot, ever since Megumi showed up. "No, she avoided the question, meaning there was definitely an unpleasant reason for it."

"Oh." His eyebrows crease. "She didn't tell you?"

"She doesn't trust me." The words pain me to say, but I'd be lying to myself if I said otherwise. I step past Midoriya to the kitchen counter and pluck a pen off the open notepad, jotting down the time. "I'm going to visit my mother. I should be back around seven."

"Now that I think about it, Kyou didn't sign out like you do, did she?"

"Her visit was a one time deal." I hope. "Our situations aren't the same."

"Maybe you should bring her with you."

My hand freezes where it is placing down the pen. "What do you mean?"

"Kyou. You said the two of you and your moms were all close, right? Why don't you take her to see your mom, then?"

"Yeah I'll think about." Without another word, I head to the bathroom to change out of uniform. When I emerge, most of my classmates have returned, and Midoriya is busy rushing around to all the spots he missed cleaning that the boys are teasingly pointing out. My childhood friend lounges on the couch with Tokoyami and Asui, her chin leaning boredly against her knuckles and her elbow propped on the armrest. As I'm passing, she briefly catches my eye and smirks. I hoist my backpack farther up my shoulder and exit the building.

Out of pure luck, my mother's hospital is close, but even if it wasn't I'd still go out of my way to see her multiple times a week. I've avoided her for so long, and now that I've stopped, it's clear just how unreasonable I was being. I've lost so much time with her because of it. My feet shuffle to a stop in front of the hospital as a thought crosses my mind.

Avoiding...I'm avoiding Kyou, aren't I? I've interacted with her enough for it to seem normal, and I've meant to talk with her multiple times, but even when we do talk, I can never take the conversation where it needs to go. For some reason, I keep refusing to actually confront her.

A sudden sting in my palms has me abruptly uncurling my fisted hands. I stare at them. I learned from an early age that I'm not immune to my own abilities. I may be resistant, but if the heat or cold is too concentrated, say, when I've clenched my fists, I still get hurt. It's been awhile since I let my emotions get the better of me and hurt myself like this. Even when I argue with my father, I've taught myself to control my abilities under that specific stress.

My quirk extinguished, I close my hands again and step up to the glass doors. They slide open and I walk in to the front desk. The woman behind it, Mrs. Haruki, breaks into a wide smile as I greet her and tells me to go right ahead to my mother's room. I thank her and head to the elevator. When I knock at the door of the room, the voice that was absent for so much of my life invites, "Come in."

Upon seeing me, she sets down her knitting needles. It's a hobby she picked up during her time here under the hospital's care. Nowadays, she's stable enough to be released so long as she's not around my father, but she insists on staying, and Dad hasn't said anything about taking her out, but with her clarity of mind present and her life limited, she's taken up quite a few little hobbies to occupy her endless time. For the past week or so, she's been adamantly working on a thick, off-white scarf. Pushing the near finished accessory to the side of the bed, she motions to the stool next to the mattress.

"How was school today?" she asks as I sit, giving me her full attention.

I let my backpack fall to the floor. "It was good. Most of the classes were just lectures, and what little homework they assigned should be pretty easy."

"And what about Megumi? Did she make another fuss again?"

"No." I lean forward and massage my forehead. "She didn't, but...something feels off. She's still guarded and aggressive. I almost feel as if there's a reason she's trying to behave."

"Well," Mom partially mimics me, leaning her elbow on her knee and cupping her cheek in her hand, "is there a reason you think that's a bad thing? Even if she's acting out, you know her. She's a good girl. Spunky and determined. Clearly that hasn't changed. She might just be struggling to break bad habits right now."

My lip twinges up in the ghost of a smile. "That hasn't changed...but somehow she feels...nefarious."

A thoughtful crease appears between her eyebrows, her cloudy eyes analyzing me intently. Then she sighs, and I'm ashamed to find I've put sadness in her expression. "Shouto, you have to understand. She's been seen as a villain her entire life. Do you think that just stopped after you stopped seeing her?" When I'm silent, she continues. "She's only acting the way she's been acting because of how hurt she is. She needs you to be an understanding friend now more than ever."

"I know," I shake my head. "You said this already."

"And I feel the need to repeat myself." She smiles softly. "You were so mad when she first came back. I'm sure that hit her hard."

My heart sinks. "But since then—"

"I know you've been trying to be patient with her, and you've told me how difficult she's turned out, but if you aren't entirely open with her, she's going to realize. Don't just tell her you're disappointed in her, tell her why, and apologize for what you've done wrong. And don't expect her to accept everything immediately. She may get even more hostile towards you for awhile, but be gentle with her. From what you've told me, I genuinely think you're still important to her, and if that's so, she'll come around."

"For a mother that hasn't had the chance to act as a mother in years, you're really good at this parenting thing," I quietly chuckle. She laughs along with me.

"Well thank you, although sometimes I think I'm more of a counselor than a mother."

"Don't worry about it. Your advice is part of what makes you the best mother I could ask for."

She giggles, but I don't miss it when her eyes shift guiltily to my left side. Sighing, I move from the stool to sit beside her on the bed, and she lifts a hand hesitantly to touch my discolored burn.

My ringtone suddenly startles her and she quickly lowers her hand, giving me a sheepish grin. Without much of a choice, I rise off the bed and dig the singing phone out of my backpack. It's Iida. I answer the phone and put it to my ear. I've barely gotten out my greeting before Iida informs me urgently,

"Midoriya is missing, and so is Kyou."

I've been considering writing from Todoroki's viewpoint for awhile now, but I wasn't really sure I was gonna do it. It's just that, for Kyou, I can create her persona and make up every detail about her life and personality and experiences, but Todoroki is a canon character. You guys already know him. That means if I'm not brushed up on every minute detail about him, I could get it wrong. It's nerve wracking. So what do you think? Did I pull it off? Does Shouto Todoroki feel like Shouto Todoroki? And oh yeah, you're welcome for that cliffhanger. *giggles mischievously* Guess you'll have to see what happens next chapter. See ya then!