Heavy Metal

~41~

I yawned, rolling over to shut off my alarm for school. Kuse mumbled in his sleep next to me, rolling away from the noise and snuggling into his blanket. I sat up in bed, yawning as I softly nudged Kuse's shoulders to gently wake him up.

"Time to get ready for school." I said, continuing to shake him.

Kuse groaned, but eventually sat up, rubbing his eyes. "I'm awake..."

"Good," I replied, throwing off the covers and standing up. "I'll go make us some breakfast, so put your uniform on and wash your face."

"Okay," Kuse yawned, stretching his arms over his head. "I want peanut butter and jelly."

"Coming right up." I chuckled, making my way out of the room, still in my pajamas.

I entered the kitchen, pulling out four slices of bread. I put two in the toaster for myself and left the other two on a plate; Kuse didn't like toasted bread for some reason. I made both of our sandwiches and began to eat mine, downing a glass of milk with it. I couldn't help but sigh when I noticed we were almost out of milk.

Kuse skipped into the kitchen, wearing his uniform and with his face washed, however, his hair was a disaster.

"Eat up," I told him, pointing to his plate. "And drink your milk too, it's good for you."

"Thanks, Tora!" He chirped, picking up his glass of milk.

I pat his head as I walked past him, making my way to the bathroom. I splashed some cold water on my face to wake myself up, sighing when I noticed the bags under my eyes. I didn't get much sleep last night, it was difficult considering everything that happened. But I was too tired and lazy to attempt hiding my eye bags, so I headed to our room instead.

I stripped out of my pajamas and began putting on my undergarments and ripped leggings. Then I put on the rest of my uniform, leaving the top two buttons of my blouse open and draping my blazer over my shoulder. I attempted to look for my tie, but that had been missing for a while now, so I never bothered with it.

Finally, I brushed through my hair with a hairbrush a few times before leaving the room, taking the brush with me.

Back in the kitchen, Kuse was still eating, happily munching on the last few bites of his PB&J. I approached him holding up the hairbrush, knowing he wasn't going to like what I was about to do.

I did my best to hold him still, pulling at the tangles in his hair as best as I could. Kuse whined in protest, but I continued to brush.

"Ow!" He yelped, holding his scalp. "Quit that!"

"No can do," I denied him. "If I leave it like this it'll only get worse, so just stay still and deal with it."

He continued to whine, but waited patiently for me to finish untangling his hair. Once I was finally done, we headed out the fire escape, starting on our way to school.

As per usual, I dropped Kuse off first, sending him off with a hug and a smile. But once he left my smile quickly faded.

I felt so incredibly guilty.

He deserved to know why I had run off, why I had to leave him with Todoroki, and most of all, he deserved to know what happened to Ingenium.

Not only did he love all things hero related, but he had met Ingenium outside of hero work; he had met, Tensei. He may have only met him a few times, but I know Tensei had left a huge impact on him.

I was torn.

As his older sister, I feel this sense of responsibility. I have to protect him from anything that could potentially hurt him, but was that the right thing to do? Was I protecting him too much?