Complicated Feelings (Izuku x Toga)

Chapter 9 - Closer

Chapter 9 - Closer

At Toga's apartment.

They both entered the apartment; Izuku looked in all different directions and analyzed the room. It was a small and a bit dusty apartment full of cheap furniture; it felt somewhat cozy though. It had a kitchen which was connected to the living room, a bedroom, and a bathroom.

There was another thing Izuku noticed, there was a shelf with glass doors which was completely filled with knife stands. The knives in it were all different; they had different sizes, different shapes, different colors, and different handles. That shelf made Izuku feel a bit uncomfortable, but just a bit.

Then there was a sofa from where you could watch TV, and above the TV a long Katana was held by two adhesive hooks. "Make yourself comfortable!" Toga cheered after she showed Izuku her whole apartment.

"O-Okay, thanks," Izuku answered and sat on the sofa. "Where did you get all this from though? And what's with all these knives and that Katana?"

"From my... uh, job? I didn't get much money, but I still spent most of it on this apartment. I came here sometimes when I didn't want to be at the League. And oh right! Let me present you," she turned around, now facing the shelf and spreading her arms towards it, "my knife collection!" She said enthusiastically.

The blonde then turned around again to see Izuku's reaction."Oh, that's... nice." He said with a sheepish smile. Himiko already took one of the knives out and was spinning with her fingers and playing with it.

"And I got that Katana as a present from my Kendo teacher when I was younger. He said that if I'll keep working hard I'll be able to swing this sword someday, but that was several years ago and I lost interest." Himiko started laughing.

She jumped on the sofa next to the boy and laid her head on his lap just like the last time in the dorms. Izuku remembered how she said once that she'll tell him what happened in her past, so he got curious again and asked, "Uhm, Himiko? Can I ask you another question?"

"Sure, go ahead!"

"Do you want to tell me what happened? I mean, why did you join the League in the first place...?" Izuku asked, but thought that he may have been too direct, "I-I mean only if it's okay, you don't have t-to tell me if you don't w-want to!"

Himiko looked to the ceiling with a neutral expression. "...Do you really want to know it?"

"...Yes. I still feel like I know so little about you and I really want to know more!" Himiko looked back at him and after a few moments, a genuine smile formed on her lips.

"Alright, then. Get ready for a long story! Everything started when a blonde girl was born with cat-like eyes and fangs. She was loved by her parents and everything was pretty normal and okay. Then after she turned 4 and got her quirk, everything started to change. She started feeling inclined towards blood. She loved blood, especially tasting it and shared her interest with her family and friends, but that only lead to getting more and more excluded from her friends. Whenever one of them was hurt, she wasn't sad nor concerned but joyful because of the bloody sight. But... they were all disgusted by her personality. Her parents said she should just act normal and stop being like that. The girl felt lonely. She did her best to act like everyone else, but there was only one person who encouraged and believed in her and that was her Kendo teacher who also had a blood quirk and taught Kenjutsu, but after a certain incident, he got... unavailable. He accepted a private duel against a sword-fighting hero because that certain conceited hero looked down upon people like him. The case was classified as a villain attack. After hearing what happened to her teacher, the blonde girl was under too much stress. She started carrying a knife with her so she would feel powerful against the school bullies. Even her crush was one of the bullies, and one day he got stabbed by the girl... Attracted by the wound, she decided to taste his blood, but got seen by some doing so." Himiko paused and looked at Izuku to see his reaction so far.