Mystery from Another World--MHA

Part 79: A quiet spell

When Shine finally came back, she heard about Momo, but the girls assured her she was fine now.

Momo was resting in the common area, and some of the girls and even guys kept waiting on her. They liked a chance to repay her usual kindness. All the attention was embarrassing her.

Shine didn't chew her out for wandering off, Wally already had, lightly, but he didn't pick on her too much since she was upset already.

Shine was just getting her stuff together to go to bed when Shoto scared her by just coming up behind her silently until she turned around and jumped.

"Wow....don't sneak up on me...what's up?"

"I talked to West earlier," Shoto looked somber. "About a lot... he told me about the past a little...he said you wouldn't be mad, but I don't want to upset you either..."

Shine realized quickly what Wally must have told him, and her face went very serious.

Even Shoto couldn't miss that cue. "Oh...uh...sorry."

"It's okay," Shine said in a somber voice. "It's not a secret." About the only thing that wasn't these days, it felt like.

"I thought about it all afternoon." Shoto admitted, a bit depressed sounding. "And I decided, I can kind of understand a little better why you did what you did. Maybe, trying to make up for the past...I know I would want to. Maybe I was too harsh, so I'm sorry."

Not a lot of words, but a lot for him, Shine knew he was trying hard. She melted.

"Aw...it's okay. I didn't want you to feel bad about something like that. It's not anything for you to worry about."

"But that's just it, you shouldn't try to protect us like that," Shoto said. "You could get hurt. And we're able to protect ourselves."

"Say the most protective person in the class..." Shine said. "Except maybe for Deku...might be a tie there...Shoto, I can't help it. I'm not sure that's a part of me that's ever going to change. Not sure I want it to. It's not always a bad thing to protect others, there's more ways than just hardship to grow...in fact, in my life, I found I had to grow a lot during times when things weren't so bad, because I wasn't used to it. You have to grow into peace as much as pain, and isn't that the whole point of even having heroes?"

"Heroes take on pain so other people don't have to," Shoto said.

"When the time calls for it, yes," Shine came and put a hand on his shoulder. "But heroes don't seek out pain, you know. They try to live as good of lives as they can, and when danger does come, they embrace protecting others the same way they should embrace being at peace with them. You can't just do one. You need both. And you, my friend, cannot keep trying to take over our burden for yourself. If you want to learn to share it, you need to be able to be a good friend first."

Shoto looked down. "So, I'm not now?"

"No, you are. Very good," Shine surprised him by saying. "But you don't notice it yourself, and you're not at peace with it. That's what I think is the problem with all the trouble you want to know about. I don't want you to get caught up in it, and only that. To obsess over it...even we don't do that, and we deal with it up close. But I don't spend every waking moment thinking about it. I'm only trying to spare you that hellish reality. You brood a lot already, you know...why should I add to it? I feel horrible whenever we do give you kids something new to worry about."

"Even when it's not your fault?" Shoto said.

"You said it was my fault." Shine stepped back. Clearly hurt.

Shoto had forgotten about that. "I was angry...but I should know better than that. It's not like you wanted that to happen."

"No, I certainly didn't, but it's over now. The LOV has agreed to step off." Shine said quite casually.