Savior (My Hero Academia: Todoroki x OC)

Chapter 4: Game Over

The next few days went by in much the same manner as the first few, although much less exciting. Normal classes in the morning, a delicious lunch enjoyed outside in the garden, and either a lecture or physical training in the afternoon. I felt like I was starting to get into a good rhythm, even once the teachers began to assign homework. Nothing was too difficult, just time consuming, but I had always been pretty good at managing my time.

Evidently, that wasn't the case for everyone. We were only a week into school, when Mr. Aizawa declared first period a free period to allow the students to catch up on any work they were behind in. "I don't care what you do, just keep the noise to a minimum," he said before zipping himself up into his sleeping bag and falling asleep.

I saw Uraraka next to me immediately pull out her math book and a notepad and get to work. I didn't have any homework to work on or anything to study. I reached into my bag and pulled out my Switch. I looked to my left and saw Todoroki staring blankly at the front of the room.

"Hey, Todoroki, will you give me a tap if Mr. Aizawa starts up class and I don't notice?"

He looked at me curiously, before noticing the gaming device in my hands. "What is that?"

"My Switch. I'm gonna play some Mario Kart, but sometimes I get so engrossed in the game I block out everything around me."

"What's Mario Kart?"

I stared at him and tried to keep my jaw from dropping. Did he seriously just ask me what's Mario Kart!?!

"Are you not doing any homework right now?" I asked him.

"No. All my work is finished. You?"

"Same. Bring your chair over here. I'm going to show you how to play Mario Kart."

I pulled out my accessory bag and detached the joycons. I reattached the joycons to their straps and handed the blue one to Todoroki. He looked at it, inspecting it from different angles, as I propped the Switch up on my desk and began setting up the game.

"Okay first thing," I said as I glanced over at him, "you're holding the controller wrong." I turned the joycon sideways and moved his hands to the sides, positioning his fingers for him over the appropriate buttons. "Hmm, your hands are a lot bigger than mine. It might be awkward for you to play at first, but you'll get the hang of it." I quickly let go of his hands when I noticed a slight blush make its way onto Todoroki's cheeks. I didn't even think about asking whether or not I could touch him, I just did it.

I cleared my throat and turned my attention back to the screen and got us set up to play a two-player grand prix. "Mario Kart is a racing game," I explained. "First, you pick your character, then I'll show you where you're at on the screen and how to drive." I held up my controller and showed him how I was moving the joystick with my thumb to switch characters.

"Does it matter which character I choose?"

"Not really. There are some advantages in using certain characters, but we're just playing for fun, so pick whichever character you like best." I scrolled over and selected my go-to, Toadette, and waited while Todoroki considered his options. I saw the smallest upturn of his lips when he stopped on Toad. I chuckled, "You certainly won't forget which character you are, since you match." I leaned over and showed him which button to push to confirm his choice. Next, the kart screen. "Just click select straight across, it won't matter which kart or tires you choose." I had chosen the easiest mode and the easiest courses so hopefully he would get the hang of it quickly.

Before I started the game, I gave him a quick tutorial on how to play. "Your character is going to be on the right side of the screen. You hold down this button on the right with your thumb to accelerate and use the joystick with your other thumb to steer. This isn't just regular racing though. There are little boxes around the course that you run into and they give you items. Some items are weapons you can shoot at other karts to spin them out, others will make you go faster, or make you invincible so weapons can't hurt you. There's too many to explain them all, but you'll see the item show up in the corner of the screen after you run into one of the boxes. Use your left index finger to press the little button on top of the controller and it will use your item. Just use whatever you get and see what happens. The race is three laps and there are 12 karts total on the track. Try to finish as high as you can while avoiding obstacles and taking out other karts. That's the jist of it. You ready?"