Echoes of Vapor (Shoto Todoroki)

02.12

PART 12

BRUISE

Before the actual tournament started, students were put on a break of some sorts where UA students were able to have fun on the field with some lighthearted party minigames.

Ryou opted out of this, snagging a few water bottles he planned on finishing by the time it was his turn to fight against his opponent. Before he decided to do anything else, he quickly sought out to ask Yaoyorozu for a favor since he was still missing a boot. At that point, he was half tempted to ditch his remaining boot and just walk around in his socks.

He found her on the field with the other girls, all of which were still in their cheerleader get-up.

"Yaoyorozu, do you have a moment?" Ryou asked, jogging up to her.

She put her pom poms down, turning to look at Ryou properly, tilting her head in curiosity, "Yes? Did you need my help with something?"

"Yeah, I was wondering if you could make me a pair of new boots. I had to sacrifice one during the cavalry," Ryou said sheepishly, "I know you need your quirk for your own fight, but I just thought to ask."

Ryou half expected her to flip her nose up at him and tell him to get lost, but she just gave him a friendly smile, "Oh, of course! That's doable, I'll make a generic pair of boots. Is that alright?"

"Yeah, yeah that's fine." Ryou answered quickly, jostling the water bottles he cradled in his arms as she made him a pair of boots. He nervously scanned her face, quietly observing for any indication that she was irritated or displeased by his request and presence, but he found none. Thankfully, she didn't seem bothered, only quietly focusing on the task at hand with a pleased expression on her face.

When she was done, she helped him put them on, an action that Ryou appreciated a lot. Surprisingly, she got his shoe size right without him even having to tell her.

"Alright, thanks, Yaoyorozu." Ryou said quietly with a small smile.

In all honesty, it felt a bit strange to have classmates actually regard him as an equal. He was so used to his days where he was once either seen as scum on earth, his life prior to meeting Katashi, to being seen as someone who would be ready to snap at any given moment, which was his life post-Katashi.

Yaoyorozu smiled back warmly, "Of course." She said in response, her attention getting taken away by Hagakure, who seemed to need to tell her something.

Ryou offered one last nod of politeness before he ducked away to search for a place to prepare himself for the next event.

He wandered outside of the arena once again and walked until he found a small clearing of trees.

Looking around, he was pleased to see that he was completely alone in this area. There, he spread his arms wide open, allowing the water bottles to topple onto the ground. Just him, his water bottles, and an unlit cigarette that he held in between his fingers.

Ryou was fairly quiet as he uncapped one of the water bottles, holding it up to his lips and chugging the whole thing in a matter of seconds by crushing the bottom as he gulped.

He placed the crushed bottle on the ground, squatting down to the ground, contemplating on whether he wanted to clear one more. Ryou rubbed his chin, humming in contemplation, before shrugging and chugging. down the hatch- ergh, i think im gonna be sick of water after all of these.

Ryou let out a loud exhale, already feeling sick of water. He plopped himself onto the soft grass, reaching into his pocket to fetch his lighter, fiddling with the cigarette with his other hand. He struggled for a bit, but finally fished it out of his pocket.