Shrine Maiden [BNHA]

Chapter Twenty Two

~Erina's POV~

"Do you have everything?" Emiko asked me as she wrapped me in the third hug of the morning.

"I have everything." I reassured her for the fifth time.

"Alright, this is your first time staying away from home." Emiko frowned, "I don't like it."

"I'll be fine." I looked down at the beads on my wrist, "Hogo Kami Sama will be with me."

Always. His voice breathed across my mind.

"Yeah, that's not reassuring, keep your hands off my sister, Pedo God!" Einosuke shouted at the sky.

Please inform the idiot he does not need to shout for me to hear him. Hogo sighed.

I held back a laugh, "he can hear you just fine...you don't need to shout."

"Behave yourself while you're gone, you are representing our shrine after all, Grand Master." Eiji stepped in and gently patted me atop the head.

"I'll do my best." I smiled.

"Show those shinobi losers how real warriors train." Etsuko smirked.

I shook my head at this. "I'm sure I'll learn some new training techniques."

"Probably not." All my siblings and even Hogo said in unison.

"Erina, I'll walk you to the station." Father's voice sounded from behind me, startling us all.

I turned to him curiously. "Are you sure?"

He nodded and dismissed my siblings with a wave of his hand. I followed him down the stairs after giving Jiji a hug goodbye. "I wanted to talk." He said as we descended the stairs.

It was pretty obvious, considering he rarely ever left the shrine. "About?" I asked warily.

"I wanted to apologize to you...I didn't realize how unfairly your mother had been treating you. She won't any longer." He said in a somewhat dark voice.

I realized then, I hadn't seen her since the Sports Festival and paled, "Dad! Did you kill her?!"

Hogo's rich laughter echoed through my mind as my father turned to me with wide eyes.

"What?! Of course not!" Father shook his head at me, "we talked."

"With words or fists?" I pondered.

"She may have thrown a few punches,but if it makes her feel better, so be it." Father shrugged. "I just didn't want you to think you had done something wrong or that her behavior was somehow your fault, is all."

I nodded. "Thanks, Dad."

He paused as he spotted Kirishima waiting at the bottom of the stairs. "Seems I won't be walking you to the station after all." He turned to me and pulled me into a bone crushing hug, "if you need anything while you're away, or you just feel homesick, your brother has at least 4 phones you can call."

"Gross." I grimaced as I realized he had multiple phones for multiple girlfriends.

"Every family has at least one lecherous monk." Father shrugged.

"I don't think that's an accurate statistic." I frowned.

And the fuckboy wants to lecture me about relationships? Hogo scoffed in my mind and I choked on a laugh.

My father offered Kirishima a polite wave before turning and heading back up to the shrine. I raced the rest of the way down the stairs and tripped on the last step flying right into Kirishima's open arms.