Icy? Or hot? ~TodoBaku~

Chapter 7: begin again

Shoto Todoroki

Arriving back home late felt...kinda weird. I'd never really gone out after maybe 6pm before, so staying out until nearly 8 felt like a strange...treat, almost. Nevertheless, I made sure to shower quickly, and I was tucked up in bed by 8:30, already beginning to drift off.

But before I did, I started thinking a little. I actually thought about how I hadn't been....*thinking* as much, so to speak. For example, when rushing to and from the coffee shop tonight, I never considered that I was a young boy roaming the streets at the beginning of the night, hardly ideal in any city. I never considered that Bakugo might not be happy to see me and might throw some coffee at my face, leaving me with another scar. It seemed that...when it came to that coffee shop...

I stopped thinking.

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I made sure to set of around 10 minutes earlier than usual for class today, conscious of the fact that I was to give Shinso a tour of the entire campus. Aizawa-sensei had mentioned that we were both excused from class until the tour was over, but I still wanted to get there a little ahead of time, make a good impression, ya know?

Arriving at the door, I peeked inside to see Shinso waiting patiently next to his uncle, who seemed to be doing something on his laptop. I cleared my throat slightly, making my presence known inconspicuously. They both looked up at me, before making eye contact with each other, with sensei nodding at his nephew encouragingly, suggesting for us to leave.

Shinso made his way over to me, and I smiled brightly to greet him. "Hey Shinso, good to see you again! You ready for another one of my amazing tours?"

He gave a short huff, but followed along as a set off down the hallway, commencing our tour of the campus.

Showing him all the buildings and what they contain, on the off chance he might ever need to go in any of them, we worked our way back to the starting point, with only one more building left.

"Ok, so in here is...history, geography and economics. Strange bunch, but I guess they needed the room, huh?"

"Mmm" he said, clearly not interested. In fact, he hadn't been much interested in the whole tour, which upset me, since I was trying to cheer him up for the duration, but I guess there *is* a lot on his mind at the moment. An unnecessary tour of the music department doesn't really help clear your head all that much.

As we walked past one of the history rooms, I recognised the door number of the class. Wait, this is Ojiro's class! I dared to peek inside as we walked past, and sure enough, he sat there, staring out of the window not paying an ounce of attention to the man speaking at the front. I smiled a little, thinking that was very like my new friend to have done, before continuing on my way.

Myself and Shinso walked into our economics class having missed the opening 15 minutes or so, and as I took my seat, the professor introduced Shinso to the rest of us, keeping their relation a secret between us three. He must really trust me... I though, before re-assuming my working attitude and settling down for class.
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Lunch came soon enough, and Shinso, who had willingly stuck close to me (which made me feel really good about myself, I won't lie), followed me over to the usual corner table.

"Hey guys, this is Shinso, he's new here and I've been showing him around. He's a pretty cool guy, if you ask me" I said, perhaps going a little hard on the sell.

But the other three were all as nice and welcoming to Shinso as they were to me, which was nice to see. Although, Ojiro certainly seemed a bit quieter today, which I brushed off as him still recovering from his illness.

"So, tell me Shinso, how in touch are you with the darkness within?" Tokoyami's strange question drew me out of my thoughts, and to the thought that class was about to resume. Myself and Shinso excused ourselves, before heading back to the class room

After the class had finished, myself and Shinso were left in the room. Aizawa-sensei had proposed that I walk Shinso home, since he might be a while getting there, and would need to collect Eri from his friend's house, since he needed someone to mind her during the week. I spoke without hesitation, aiming to impress once again.

"How about we just swing bye and collect Eri? That would make it a little easier on you, sensei.."

He smiled, clearly impressed with me. "How very kind, Todoroki. He lives just three doors down from me on the left. I'm glad I picked you."

My heart swelled with joy hearing that, before I grabbed Shinso's arm and tugged him out of the classroom, heading for this mystery man's house.

Turns out said mystery man was incredibly loud, startling me as he screamed "YEAHHHHHHHHHHHH" when I asked if Eri was ready to go. Great, another one I thought. Just when I thought one loud blond I knew was enough, here comes a second. Then again, I'd developed an....interest in the other, so could it be that I just misjudge blond people?

Regardless, Shinso's sister was possibly the most adorable thing on this earth. It was really nice to see her smiling, given the difficulties she'd been through, and it was clear that her older brother was so relieved to see her beginning to get back to normal. He smiled, and I could tell this one was 100% genuine, making me smile too.

Waving goodbye to Eri and Shinso, I made my way back to the top of the street, heading for you-know-where, to see a certain blond boy.

Oh, yeah...

And perhaps get a coffee while I'm there.
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More Shinso stuff today guys, gotta get that development.

This chapter was intended to serve as a little advancement into Shinso and Todoroki's slowly developing friendship. In the long-run, I want this effort to pay off for Todoroki , with this friendship that he worked hard for helping him through..stuff.

Like I said previously, please give me a little time to start working on the TDBK stuff. I want it to feel as genuine as possible, and given how different their personalities are, that may take a little while longer. I'd say most, if not all, of the next chapter will be about them two, so that might be a pretty big one.

Fact of the Day: Approximately 80% of the food Mashirao Ojiro consumes during this book are laced with JEALOUSY .