Demons or Heroes

Chapter 20

 Chapter 20

Vincent POV

         It's been a few more weeks since Himiko and I enrolled at U.A and while things haven't changed very much, one thing for sure certainly has changed...

         "Goddamn it, it's fucking cold!" Himiko exclaimed as she sneezed on our morning swinging exercise.

         "Excuse me, language young lady." I jeered much to her dismay.

         "Shut the hell up, I don't wanna hear it! I hate the cold and I can't just ignore it like you can. Screw this, we're done anyway, I'm going home!" She shouted just before she warped back to the house and I'm assuming right in front of the heater.

         I followed right behind her after laughing at an unexpected joke Christin made and, as I expected, she was right in front of the heater.
         "It's not even December levels of cold and you're acting like it's 80 degrees below freezing. It's not even cold outside, you were just swinging too fast. Besides, you're the one who wanted to go swinging at 2 in the morning when it's typically the coldest outside anyway." I said as I handed her some tea.

         "Yeah well, I couldn't bore myself to sleep and I needed something to do and I didn't want to go swinging alone." She spat.

         "So you decide to wake us up and go swinging the day we have what would be the most intensive part of the Sports Festival?" I said.

         I was met with silence.

         "Himiko, look at me. I've known you long enough and lived with you long enough to be confident to say that I know you and I can tell that you're anxious and worried about something. I also know that when you get anxious, you frantically and irrationally, look for something to distract yourself with until you stop thinking about it." I spoke as she once again said nothing.

         I got up and sat directly in front of her, nervously pulled her into a hug and just let her slow her own breathing down. Over these last few weeks of going to school together, living together and training together, we've become far more intimate than either one of us expected. As Ashido-san puts it we are "unoffically dating" but we both ignore her when she gets to running her mouth about that crap. I've just grown to care for her enough to the point where it's second nature for us to be affectionate with each other and to where I can pick up on the small things, the things she tries to hide from me and when something is bothering her.

         "I'm just worried about us. Maybe more than what I should be. I can't stop thinking about it." Himiko said as she looked me in my eyes to show her sincerity.

         She went on to explain to me how she's worried about who our opponents are given that I'd be fighting Bakugo and she'd be fighting Yaororuzu. Part of the worry comes from the very high chance that Bakugo would attempt to seriously harm me, another part is more or less stage fright of having so many people watching her not knowing who knows about her past and the last part comes from the slight intimidation she feels whenever she's around Yaororuzu.

         We moved from the floor onto the couch and faced each other as we continued talking. "It's just that, ever since I met her, I've always felt like she was judging us, more so me in particular. It's probably, most likely, because I used to be with the League but even now that it always feels like she's looking down on me and the air around her towards me is suffocating. I just want to be on friendly terms with her and it's hard to do that with her. You can't tell me you haven't noticed it Vincent."

         "I have. I've been painfully aware of it ever since the first day of class. After she finished speaking that day, for a quick second, she grimaced. I've noticed how she very subtly flips the switch around us, specifically you, when we're around. I saw how it was eating away at you but I didn't press it because I know that you don't like being asked to talk about your problems and would rather do it yourself. I think that the reason she tries to microanalyze my quirk more than Izuku is that although we virtually have the exact same quirk, she may view her own as inferior for whatever reason she has. Whatever her issue is, it'll come out eventually." I said as I passively used my quirk to tie her hair for her.

         "You have a point, I just wish that us fighting wouldn't be a potential catalyst for it to come out." She said as she held another hair tie up for me to use.

         "As for Bakugo, I know this won't do anything to quell your worry, but don't worry about him. I've watched him enough to where I completely understand his, for lack of a better term, explosive fighting style. It's too unrefined and anger laced to be able to keep up with my own. Which, now that I've said it aloud, sounds a tad hypocritical as mine is literally called Chaos for god's sake. Since he already has anger issues, if I just use that and my past combat experiences to my advantage, things should go swimmingly for me. And for whatever reason, if things get wildly out of hand, I'm confident I can calm everything down." I said as I finished with her hair and let her tie my own hair.

         We sat in silence for the next few minutes as we let the gravity of our future matches slowly sink in. It was nearly 3:30am and our matches weren't until 2pm. Himiko's would be first, followed by my own. I have faith that nothing bad will happen because in terms of physical prowess, with and without a weapon, Himiko easily outdoes Yaororuzu.

         "Himiko."

         "Yeah?"

         "Let's get breakfast at Sato's before we head to school and watch the morning matches." I said as I got off the couch.

         "Uh, sure but why?" She asked as she followed behind me to her own room.

         I turned around and put my hands on her shoulders. "Because I know that having a good meal calms your nerves and I know exactly what I'm ordering for you that is both energizing and filling. I have all the faith in the world that you can beat her and that whatever happens during the match, the both of you will have a better understanding of each other. You can do this." I said with a smile.

         I felt her face heat up in my shoulder and she shakily returned the hug. "This is why Ashido and the other girls think we're dating you know. But thank you for telling me that, I appreciate it more than you think."

         "Yeah and how many times have I had to explain that I'm incredibly affectionate with the people I care about? What they think of our relationship doesn't matter. I'm just doing what I can to keep your head up. Besides, it's been a long time since I've had the opportunity to be this way with someone."

          "Yeah, I know. Even though you've come to open up a lot these past few weeks, I still much prefer you like this. Sweet and caring... I think you can let me go now or rather you should so we can go to sleep." Himiko said as she reluctantly let go.

         We said our good nights to each other and retired to our rooms.

Himiko POV

         Damn you Vincent, I love how sweet and affectionate and caring you get but sometimes it's just so much that my heart bursts with emotions I've never felt before. There's so many things I want to say and do with you when you get like that but I don't want to get caught up in the moment and just let it out. I want to tell him everything about how I feel and about these feelings I've never felt before but I don't know how! It doesn't help that he can read me like a book and can tell that this too is yet another thing that's eating away at me that he's just waiting for me to tell him about. 

         I.... I want him to hold me again and look at me with that caring, loving look he unknowingly puts on. Or, at least I think he's unaware of the face he makes. Maybe one day, when these emotions become just too much for me to handle, I'll sit him down and do my best to talk it out. I just hope that nothing and no one gets in the way of that. I wonder if he even looks at me the same way I look at him sometimes...