Secrets [Todoroki]

*Chapter Sixty-Five*

Sweat raced down her body, her eyes screwed shut in concentration. Her arms were moving in slow circles while her feet took several small steps.

"That's good, Mirianne." Aizawa watched her. "It's been thirty seconds now. Do you think we can try for a full minute?"

Her mouth felt dry and every bone in her body was aching. The heart in her chest was an erratic spasm, making breathing hard. She nodded, though with difficulty. Her legs shook, but she still took another step. One after the other.

Training sessions like this had been going on for weeks now. The only break she got was when she went for the makeup portion of her heroes licensing exam. Aizawa was very serious about her training, but also supportive.

For once, Miri found someone who would encourage her to well rather than force her through threats.

Miri's knees suddenly buckled beneath her body, causing her to collapse on the ground. The fragile control she had managed for just under a minute snapped and adrenaline flooded her system in massive waves. Her body shook, and she felt her skin burn.

At once, Aizawa's quirk activated. The adrenaline in Miri's body slowed, and she took a deep breath. She remained on the ground, too exhausted to push herself up.

Kirishima, who had been quietly watching the whole time, knelt down beside her. "Are you okay?"

"Just...just peachy." She sighed, her eyes feeling as heavy as her body. "Hungry and tired...but alive."

He smiled and pulled her up. He supported most of her weight against him. "You did good today!"

Aizawa nodded his head in agreement. "Compared to only weeks ago, I'll say you've taken many steps in the right direction. However, it's a long road ahead of us." He shoved his hands in his pockets, beginning to walk off. "You've earned your break for today. Both of you are dismissed."

Miri weakly raised her fist in victory. "Woooo," She muttered. "Take me to the kitchen. There's some leftover takoyaki in there that I'm willing to fight someone for."

"Believe me, I think most people would let you have it." Kirishima shuddered at the thought of it, but carried her off regardless.

𓆩*𓆪

Miri arrived back in her room after a nice and lengthy shower. She delicately toweled off the ends of her hair, moving to stand in front of the mirror. Her eyes danced up at the new photos that decorated it, a happy smile growing on her face.

There was one of her smiling widely at the camera while Kirishima was stuffing his face with food. Kaminari was sitting beside him, a weird look on his face.

'I remember that. Kaminari was having a stomachache, and Kirishima and I made him uncomfortable with how much we ate.' She laughed to herself. 'Bakugo would have been there, but he fell asleep on the couch. We picked on him shortly after that.'

The photo next to it was of Shinso, who she forced to go with her out for lunch when everybody was busy. At first glance of the photo, he looked like he would rather be anywhere else, but Miri knew that the boy had a bit of fun and smiled at a few separate points.

'It surprised me when he agreed to hangout. But we both had something to talk about. He had asked me how I resisted his quirk the first time around, and I honestly couldn't answer him still. It caught us both off-guard, but the closest I could get to having an answer was the fact that I was standing in his shadow. Although I can't control people's shadows, I can still get senses of the darkness. Maybe my mind becomes too complex from the influence of the darkness for mind-control quirks to work. Would explain why it later worked when I stepped away from him.' She wrapped the towel around her neck. 'We also talked a bit about the question I had asked him. About how I save myself from succumbing to the darkness. I guess I technically couldn't do that, but I was grabbed last second by someone.' She smiled, thinking bashfully of Todoroki's lips against her own. 'So maybe the answer isn't as far off as I thought it would be.'