Blossoms of the Dark

LXX Shouto: Questions

Trigger Warnings:

- PTSD

- past traumatic event

- possible panic attack

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Hours later, it's Lunch time.

Hanada-chan is understandably agitated in the crowded Cafeteria.

Once she gets her food tray, I tell her to wait for me by the koi fish pools.

At the same time, I stand in line and wait for my turn.

There's the background noise of students chattering. I ignore it all until I hear something close by.

Something peculiar.

"What's going on with Deku?" I hear a girl's voice say.

"I heard he jumped in the second All Might was getting attacked. It's probably something to do with that." A boy's voice responds.

"Also, it's just like Tsuyu said on the bus! His super strength is a lot like All Might's."

"So he might have taken some interest in him."

I can't help but turn my head to the source of the voices. It's my classmates: Iida and Uraraka. I see that Midoriya is not with them. That's strange. Very strange.

I've seen something between Midoriya and All Might one too many times. It's too frequent to be a coincidence. During the Trial of Battle, every day in class, and just recently the U.S.J. incident. There's something going on, and I can't quite figure out what it is.

But that's something I can think about later. Right now, Hanada-chan is waiting for me.

Once I locate her, I sit down next to her. She's already started eating. I place an ice cream cup on her tray and eat my meal. Her expression is hilarious. The hand holding the spoon stops just before her open mouth, and her eyes stare at the cup. Then she turns toward me, the question obvious in her metallic eyes.

"Luck must be in our favor today. The Cafeteria passed out vanilla ice cream. I didn't know if you liked that flavor, but I thought you'd appreciate the gesture."

"I do. Thank you. Thank you so much!" she exclaims.

I chuckle lightly at that. Ignoring the rest of the food on her plate, she devours the ice cream. "Mmm. For cafeteria food, this is surprisingly tasty."

Knowing now that she likes vanilla makes me want to know more about her. I also need to give her the pendant. And I think I know just how to do that.

"Do you wanna play a game?" I ask her.

"What game?"

"Twenty Questions."

"Does the question I am asking now and the one I asked just before count as part of the twenty questions?"

"No."

"Okay. I'll play. But ..."

"We don't have to ask 'Yes-or-No' questions and don't have to answer with 'Yes-or-No.' We'll take turns asking questions until we reach twenty questions, and both of us will answer the questions. You can go first. Is that alright? Oh, this doesn't count as part of the twenty questions."

She nods and looks ahead at the school gate. "What is your favorite color?" I give her an unimpressed look. "I know. It's a cliché question. But it's the first one I could think of."