Shrine Maiden [BNHA]

Chapter Nineteen

~Kirishima's POV~

As the first match of the tournament was about to begin, I anxiously looked around for Erina. She'd vanished after the matchups were announced. Was she feeling nervous about her fight with Todoroki? He seemed way more intense than usual today. Something seemed to be bothering her of late but she wasn't really one to talk about her problems, she was the suffer in silence or beat her problems to a pulp kind of girl. Sometimes I thought it would be nice if she'd ask me for help from time to time, not that she ever needed it but just so she didn't have to shoulder whatever burdens she was taking on alone.

"Kirishima?" Her voice sounded on the stairs next to my seat in the stands as the first match was about to begin.

"There you ar-." I noticed a bright red snakelike pattern on her arm where her beads had been. On second glance they were tiny red spots in the exact location of where her prayer beads were, it looked like a pretty nasty burn. "What happened?!" I panicked.

"Hogo Kami Sama and I had a bit of a disagreement." She tried to wave it off but it looked like it was still bothering her. "I was wondering if you'd mind watching over my beads for me during my match?" She asked nervously.

"Yeah, sure...but why aren't you going to wear them?" I asked her feeling a strange sense of foreboding.

Her ruby eyes lowered and she unconsciously gripped her arm where her beads usually rested, "I need to do this on my own." She extended a handkerchief to me it looked like there was something glowing inside of it.

I accepted it and realized her prayer beads were wrapped inside. They were surprisingly hot to the touch and probably would have burned me if I had touched them directly. "Does this mean he's angry?" I asked warily indicating the glowing handkerchief.

Erina blanched and nodded.

"Are you sure it's okay?" I asked worried.

"Yeah." She offered me a small smile, "thank you." She took a step back, "I'm going to go get ready."

I reached out before I could stop myself and caught her hand in mine. Her cheeks reddened. "I know you don't need it, but good luck, I'll be cheering you on."

A bright smile lit up her face, it looked like everything she'd been worrying about and allowing to weigh her down seemed to lessen greatly, "I might need it. I'd be an idiot if I didn't recognize that he was a strong opponent."

"Yeah, maybe, but you're, hands down, the best fighter here. You can do it." I tried to offer her some reassurance as I squeezed her hand tightly in mine. The handkerchief in my hands grew hotter and for a moment I wondered if the warrior god was going to smite me for helping her get rid of her beads.

Erina held my hand for a moment longer before letting go and disappearing to go to the waiting room to wait for her match. Midoriya's match was over fairly quickly, it wasn't super flashy or interesting but he managed to throw his opponent out of the ring.

A voice drifted across my mind, a strong powerful voice that instantly made me cringe as it began to shout, RETURN THE BEADS TO ERINA! NOW! I cringed at the powerful voice screaming in my head.

"And now for the second match!" Present Mic's voice rang overhead.

NOW! The voice got louder and I saw a brief glimpse of Erina collapsing, her body burned badly all over. My stomach churned. I got up ready to run but realized Erina and Todoroki were already in the arena.