Training Distraction

A/N

Content Warning:

This story focuses on issues that may be triggering to individuals. Some words may cause issues, but it gains a sense of reality that these words can be very harmful. There is offensive stuff in it, but some bits are from the unfortunate sense that not everyone is great and there's toxic nature.

Certain events may be triggering, so this story may not be for you as we incorporate problems that are problematic and not ok.

No way in shape or form this story is glorifying anything. We don't promote or encourage anything, but we want to be realistic.

Also, this is an era for Steampunk. We have major spoilers in the manga so don't read if you're not caught up.

Characters are aged appropriately to have the same age. If you don't like that, it's called creative freedom. This is just fictional and not real. Please, don't be a snowflake Karen and follow cancel culture. You have been warned.

We try to write the characters as canon to personality we can.

If you understand, feel free to read and get ready for all the feels!!

And dedicating major inspiration to outlander17

The loud sound of rumbling and chugging was huffing from the engine. Clunking and screeching as the train made its stop, encouraging passengers to hop on. The loud chattering of people was tuned out from a young girl's pulse beating strongly. The intensity of her situation grew as someone was screaming behind her.

It didn't matter to her. The voice was tuned out. Who cares what they were saying?

Freedom. She wanted to be free and happy. That's what her eyes were set on ahead as she ignored the trembling and sweating of her palms.

The wind was blowing so strongly that a few strands of her wavy coral locks whipped against her face. Her hand was tightening around a crumbled ticket. People kept bumping into her as she was trying to board the train. So close. She needed to escape this awful town. Start a new life on her own.

Forget the past to leave it behind her to die.

Her hand rubbed the throbbing pain on her bruised nose. Blinking frantically to not shed any tears in public.

Happy. I want to be happy.

Being 18, she was gaining adulthood. The right to make her choices.

The adrenaline was too much. She almost wanted to turn back as she was having slight cold feet. But when that boy behind her was inching closer, his voice became clearer. Still, she couldn't hear exactly what he said because of all the people chattering and giving confused looks.

Taking the large sack with her belongings, she pushed past the people. Somewhat expressively huffing out loud to make them notice her trying to board.

"KASUMI!"

She finally heard him call out to her, when she successfully went inside it. She sat by a window, seeing the 14 year old looking somewhat devastated. Kasumi put on a hateful glare towards him. She planted her middle finger and waved it onto the window.

"Screw off," she hatefully whispered out loud. Her head turned away from the window as the train was starting to move.

Finally, I can be with him.

...

7 years ago, Kasumi was taken into the car. She was about 11 years old at the time. Her distinct features of slightly wavy coral hair contrasted against the seafoam eyes that really made her facial characteristics stand out. Her unruly locks had neatly planted bangs. At the ends of her strands, there was a distinct curl. Her clothes were slightly wrinkled and worn. The dress was definitely more on the poorer side. She practically looked like a beggar.

Adults around her were whispering. Probably about her. Kasumi was too oblivious to it. She would tune them out as she daydreamed while looking out the window.

She was leaving another orphanage. Children who stay there for a while get transferred to another district in hopes to be adopted.

"What makes you think this place will be good?"

"Oh, it's certainly great for children like her. With a quirk like hers, it's for children who only have quirks."

More like problematic kids. She couldn't remember how many times this had happened. With quirks being such an odd occurrence, it would be hard to predict when someone would develop theirs. It didn't start out with any set age either. Some people would show their powers even as old as teenagers or adults.

Kasumi had a quirk, but she couldn't even remember when it had developed. Nor does she ever focus on those things. Her head was always stuck in the clouds in her own type of world. One where she could escape to and get rid of loneliness.

Oof.

There was a bump in the road. It showed the change of texture of the path they were on. An hour had passed already. She didn't know when they had stopped talking. It was a smoother ride. She could see bigger buildings from her view. Different from the typical countryside she was living in prior.

Would she miss the place? Ehh... Not really. She didn't have any friends there and the adults were mean. Why would she be missing that place?

At some point of the road trip, she had fallen asleep.

"Wake up, kid."

Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she groggily stepped out of the car. She was careful not to let herself fall.

"She's a quiet one, ain't she?"

Adults always say that when they try to talk to her. All she would do was awkwardly smile or not. Maybe not smile at all as she couldn't even give them eye contact. Her shyness was terrible.

Of course, people misunderstand her that way. They'd get offended. The one man kept eyeing his pocket watch for the time. He smiled in satisfaction that they made it on schedule.

Kasumi looked up to see a huge building that you would typically see in this technology of the 19th century. Everything you see in the modern steampunk era. All the gears on the castle were quietly moving. Kasumi was in awe as she felt so tiny in comparison. It was so massive that she couldn't even see where the castle would end. There were castle guards positioned at different doorways from the distance.

"Quit gawking and come along now, lass," the man beckoned her.

Kasumi silently followed him as she lugged some of her belongings. There was a rectangular building attached to an open hallway of the castle. One would assume it was the orphanage as it was gated with iron. There were children already playing outside. There was an older lady, who had a regal and bouncy dress.

"G'day, missus." The man tipped his hat as a polite gesture. "I've brought you the new child."

The woman smiled down at the young girl, her tired eyes filling with just a bit more life at the sight. "Hello. Your name is...Kasumi, correct?"

Kasumi didn't answer her. Her eyes stared at the towering pillars of the outside hallway. The details of it made her study it more and more.

"Hey." The man snapped his fingers in her face to get her attention. He did it a couple times until she looked back.

"Listen when you're spoken to," he scolded.

All Kasumi did was press her lips together and nodded towards the orphan's keeper lady.

"My apologies. This one has always been like this since we've received her." He sighed and chuckled as if it was a pitiful thing.

The woman gave a gentle, breathy laugh in return. She put a hand on Kasumi's back to guide her. "That's alright. We'll get her to come out of her shell."

Kasumi involuntarily tensed up from the touch. Since the woman was a stranger, Kasumi felt off with the friendly hand on her person.

They were talking about who knows what. She was off daydreaming again because it was a boring conversation. They were discussing how Kasumi was held back a grade in schooling since she was a slow learner.

With that, the lady led Kasumi inside. Children on the outside looked towards Kasumi while she went into the building.

Kasumi was led into the girl's bedroom. There were beds scattered and untidied everywhere. She couldn't tell how many were set in there, but it was intimidating to her.

Which one would be my bed? She wondered.

She also hated sharing room with other kids. At her last place, her only roommate had gotten adopted. She gained the solitude she needed.

When the woman left, Kasumi set her things on what was chosen to be her bed. It took some time to unpack and sort her things.

Then, a random girl came running into the room, purposely laying on the bed Kasumi had chosen. She seemed to be a year younger than Kasumi, but she had a bratty smirk planted on her face.

The little girl kicked her legs up and down. It caused the bed to shake. Her shrill, high pitched voice carried effortlessly throughout the room.

"You're the new girl!" She practically yelled. "You're weird."

Kasumi didn't meet eye contact. She wanted to speak up and tell her that was her bed she was on.

But nothing came out.

"She can't talk so she must be retarded." Another girl made herself present. She was a brunette with a bowl cut. She was slightly on the chubbier side compared to Kasumi's scrawny frame.

Again, Kasumi didn't say anything but heard the mocking giggles of the girls.

She was trying to get herself on the bed, but the bowl cut bully mocked, "You didn't know? You're in the wrong bed. That's your bed over there."

It was an old bed at the end of the room. It was tilted and had a broken leg.

That's mean. Tell them. Stand up for yourself!

"Oh...." Was all Kasumi said super quietly.

The girls just laughed as they jeered for her to move. Kasumi obediently did what she was told. Doing that made the bullies feel like they had power over her.

Kasumi's fists started to ball.

Nightfall came and Kasumi had trouble sleeping. She tried not to think of any of the hurtful words as her eyes glossed over.

Her mind went a different direction as she imagined a world where she had many friends. A fantasy world where she could travel to different dimensions.

Have her own importance to the story where she could be so strong enough to fight with a sword. Having crushes on many guys who thought of her as pretty.

Sure, it was very mary-sueish, but she was still a kid. A kid that was lost in her own reality in order to cope with life.

...

In another part of the castle, a 12 year old boy was running around like he owned the place. In his mind, he should have.

It wasn't that he was interested in being the king or anything. No, what he was really interested in was gaining the attention of his father.

The boy was still only a child, but he worked harder than some adults. He sometimes stayed up all night training just so he could show off to his father that he was good enough. To prove that he wasn't worthless.

A sense of worth is something that a parent should already give a child without the child feeling the need to work for it. Children need to feel loved and cared for. The boy in question - Toya Todoroki - never felt that love.

He looked up to his father, loved him, and wanted to earn his respect. So even when painful burns blemished his skin and his hair began to change colors, he still worked as hard as he could to make himself seen. He was boisterous, energetic, and most of all, determined.

One day, he was walking about with a scowl. His feet stomped down with purpose in each step.

His younger sister, Fuyumi, noticed him pouting as he walked around. Fuyumi tensed up a bit. She was scared for her brother's sake. Despite being a year younger than him, she always held a sort of responsibility like a big sister would. It was a side effect of her longing to have a family that wasn't tainted by abuse.

"Toya, you shouldn't wander around everywhere!" She scolded. She grabbed his hand and tried to lead him away to his room. "Dad will get mad at you."

Toya's little hands that were scarred by his own quirk swatted her away. "I don't care! I'll do anything for him to notice me! You wouldn't understand, so leave me alone!"

Toya left his trembling sister there. He wasn't aware of just how terrified she was for his well-being, or maybe he didn't care. It was probably the latter.

He continued on through the palace with his goal in mind. Somehow, he was going to prove himself. He knew that he could be a strong king despite the injuries that his quirk caused.

He was just a child, and yet he was willingly destroying himself. All so the adult he admired would give him something. Anything. A smile would be enough. Even a nod. As long as he got some recognition, he would be fine. That was what he told himself anyway.

As he walked through, he spotted a set of bars in the corner of his eye. Turning his head, he saw a familiar sight. The door that resembled a cage and blocked his little brother off from leaving a designated area.

He was a little surprised that Shoto wasn't standing there, hands wrapped around the bars as he pleaded with Toya to let him out for a few minutes so he could see the rest of his family. That was how most of their interactions went. Toya, of course, refused to sneak him out. It wasn't that he couldn't. He was sure he could steal the key if he really wanted to. The thing was, he didn't want to.

He hated Shoto. Sometimes he wished the dual haired boy would just die already so that his father would have no choice but to train Toya again. Ever since Shoto's quirk manifested, their father only paid attention to him. He neglected his other two children.

He huffed as he walked past the door. He's probably in his room studying for his prince stuff. Or looking out the window like a weirdo. Why does he get everything anyway? Why does he get to have that stupid quirk?

His mind whirred with ideas. What could he try that day to gain his father's attention? Rowdiness? Or maybe the opposite?

He was so deep in thought that he hardly noticed where he was going. He was in the walkway that headed out of the castle.

He walked out the door and into a hallway with open pillars to see the outside. There were various children playing around. They were all so loud and obnoxious. It irritated him.

He decided to go back and try looking elsewhere. He started to turn around, but then a certain someone caught his attention. Her eyes were a pleasant seafoam color. Her hair was coral. Out of everyone outside, she was the quietest.

He picked up the pace, squirming his way through the pillars, until he was directly in front of her. The center of her attention. His cerulean eyes sparkled with curiosity. "Hey. You."

Kids nearby were starting to whisper and giggle to each other when they saw what was going on.

"Looks like someone else is trying to approach the stupid girl."

"Hey, hey. Does that boy look familiar to you?" Another snorted as they were making fun of Kasumi in the background.

The girl didn't move her eyes off her sketchbook. She quickly closed it when she was drawing something prior. Kasumi didn't even look up, but stared at Toya's shoes.

His shoes were so nice and shiny in comparison to her dull and tattered ones. But no words came out of her mouth. It made it seem like she was ignoring him.

When she really wasn't. She just really had a hard time meeting anyone's eyes due to her timid nature.

"I'm talking to yooooouuu." Toya drew out the words to get her attention. He tilted his body to the side in an attempt to get his face in her view.

He hated being ignored. It felt like it was a constant occurrence.

His body was, sadly, very frail. It caused pain to bend like that, but he was almost desperate for her to look him in the eye.

"I'm bored," he complained. "There's nothing I can do inside."

That was his excuse anyway.

Kasumi then glanced at him for a quick second to catch a glimpse of his snow white hairs. Then averted her eyes away when she finally spoke a little bit. "...Oh... Um..."

Her voice was rather quiet and not loud at all. She clutched her sketchbook against her. She was feeling anxious to talk more.

All she wanted to do was greet him confidently with a smile. How was socializing so hard to do?

Why does others make it look so easy?

Even she wasn't aware of that herself.

Toya pursed his lips in annoyance. He didn't take the time to second think what he was about to say. As soon as the thought crossed his mind, it went out his mouth. "Why don't you talk to me with real words? Do you not know how to?"

That made Kasumi on the defense as she became afraid he was going to bully her too. She started to bite her hair strand as a coping method. It was an anxious habit she did.

Tell him that you can. You can be just like the popular kids! Show confidence! Just like how you draw yourself!

But all she did was somehow laugh softly and nervously.

Toya scoffed. It felt like his chest was on fire when someone ignored him. It was as though his quirk was working on the inside, burning his nerves whenever he didn't get the attention that he felt he deserved.

He didn't want to live his life like that. Always ignored and treated like an afterthought. In a way, he was craving love, but he didn't really know how to read those feelings.

"Aren't you going to do anything?" He asked. He straightened up before he lost his balance. If it was possible, there would probably be smoke coming out of his ear. Maybe it was possible with his quirk, but it didn't happen.

"Why aren't you standing up for yourself?" He asked another question. It was partly out of genuine curiosity, but mostly out of anger.

Why? That was a good question.

A question she couldn't answer due to being severely introverted.

Recluse.

The social anxiety was terrible that she felt her eyes starting to get glossy. Her knuckles rubbed them to pretend they were itchy.

"I... dunno..." Her voice sounded cracked and apologetic.

"Fine." He tried to ignore the building anger inside. As a kid growing up in the circumstances that he did, he had no idea how to handle anger in a healthy manner. He had never been taught to channel those feelings in ways other than violence or training.

He could very easily hit her. How satisfying would it be to feel his hand make contact with her cheek? To leave a red mark and remind her not to ignore him?

Maybe that would get his father's attention. He would be angry, but at least he would have to acknowledge Toya. Even if that acknowledgment meant a red mark on Toya's cheek to match the one on Kasumi's.

He didn't hit her, though, for reasons that were beyond him. He just turned his back to her with that big scowl and began to storm off.

Stupid. He made a noise that resembled a growl as he went back into the palace. I should have been training instead and not wasting time. I need to get stronger!

When he walked away, the other kids saw him wander back into the castle. They were all chatting about how Kasumi made him mad so maybe he would lock her up.

All of them were making fun of her more.

All Kasumi wanted was a friend and she felt like she blew it. She felt so upset that tears started rolling down her cheeks.

"Wah, wah. Cry about it," another boy jeered as he laughed along with the girl with a bowl-cut.

That was when Kasumi made herself get up to go inside the orphanage. Maybe to be excused to use the bathroom so she could continue to cry in there.

...

It was the very next day when he saw her again. He was wandering around in search of something to do when he spotted her outside. Ignoring Fuyumi once more, he ran out.

She was on the grass with scraped knees. What really caught his attention was her quirk. Or, rather, what he assumed to be her quirk. Her knees seemed to miraculously become healed by her.

For the first time in a while, his eyes filled up with something other than bitterness. Real, genuine interest.

His pace slowed as he got closer to her. He crouched down to her level, once again, so that he was in the center of her view. "Do you have a healing quirk?"

The question was sudden and completely out of the blue. His behavior when he was younger could be a bit erratic at times.

When Kasumi's face lifted up slightly, her cheeks were drenched. Her nose was constantly running.

"Sorta..." Again with the short answers. She sniffled really loudly.

She felt extremely dizzy that her hands were shaking from doing such a procedure. Whenever she had to heal like so, it unfortunately caused side effects. It was worse when she does it on herself.

She hated getting hurt. It sucked. It was worse when no one even bothered to help her up earlier.

She had been running to get a ball and then tripped. The kids just watched her and did nothing to help.

So she waltzed away from the playground, not bothering to go to a caretaker inside. She would rather do it herself.

Even though she was healed and the pain was gone, feeling lightheaded was making her cry. Everything up to that point was just the aftermath of it.

"You don't hafta cry about it." Toya rolled his eyes. He made no effort to help her up, but he himself didn't get up yet either. He gave a look as though telling her to go on. "Are you gonna explain it or just be sad the rest of the day?"

Kasumi used her sleeve to wipe her nose as she cried a little more. She struggled a little bit talking as her voice sounded whiny. "It involves blood."

She didn't know how to explain it nor even liked the name of it.

Blood vessel manipulation is what it was branded as.

Still not making eye contact with Toya, her head buried into her knees to fight the dizziness.

Toya grumbled something incoherent. He settled down into a sitting position across from her. "I guess you're doing both."

He wasn't entirely sure why he was sitting with her. He could just as easily go inside and train again. After all, he was frustrated the day before for 'wasting his time' talking to her. But underneath his wishes to be recognized by his father, he was still just a child. Children naturally don't want to be alone in most cases. Even though Toya tried to convince himself that his father's recognition was all he wanted, his actions said otherwise.

Kasumi peeked a little bit through her blurry tears. She wondered why he stuck around her.

Was she not creepy towards him? Usually, when someone hears anything involving blood, they upturn their nose. Like it was the most dreadful thing.

She didn't know what else to say when he made that comment. She was somewhat nervous to glance towards him.

That habit started to form at a younger age when some kids were talking. She tried to get herself involved by looking and listening. One kid pointed at the floor as a way to never look at anyone.

She couldn't remember their words, but they hurt.

She didn't even realize she was an outcast at all until that moment in her younger years.

Obviously, the silence was bothering Toya once more. She heard him scoff. She can tell he was losing patience for her not explaining more, so she decided to mumble, "It's called Blood Vessel..Mani-" She struggled to say the last word.

She always had problems when it comes to speech with a slight impediment to pronunciation.

"Blood vessel manipulation?" He finished for her. He was able to pick up on what she was trying to say fairly easily.

He didn't seem upset or scared at the name. It wasn't the typical reaction that she got. Instead, he smiled. It was a rather ornery looking smile. "I bet your quirk isn't as good as mine is."

She slightly looked up towards him for him to get a good look at her face.

Yuck.

Too much snot hanging out. Her face was a mess.

She wanted to ask him what his was, but chickened out. She quickly looked down.

"Yeah..." Was all she could really answer.

"You need to wipe your nose," he pointed out mercilessly. "You're full of boogers."

He saw her shoulders shake as though she was about to start crying again. Strangely, it caused him to panic, although not much.

There were no heartfelt words of comfort. No hand holding or head patting. Instead, he gently pinched her arm. "Stop that."

Flinching a bit, she quickly moved her arm away. She started to frantically wipe her face. It was that command that made her slightly obedient.

Especially when it comes to being mortified from such a comment.

She may not be good with words, but she sometimes listened to slight demands. All she did was nod to answer him. Even though it bothered her, she didn't retort it at all.

She really was a pushover.

A week went by, and Toya didn't visit Kasumi often. Becoming her friend had never been part of the plan. His sights were still set on gaining his father's attention. He only had another person on his mind occasionally.

Despite Kasumi being a slight distraction, his goals hadn't changed. He still wanted to prove himself. If he could just get strong enough, everything could change. Shoto wouldn't be hogging the spotlight anymore. Toya would be under its bright beam instead.

The strength that he needed felt so far away. He never once gave up, but it was exhausting him in more ways than one. He often found himself screaming within his own head and asking why he couldn't seem to be enough no matter what he did.

Deep red blisters turned to charred skin. It was a little scary for him to look at as a kid, but he told himself that he had to keep going. Surely, it wouldn't kill him. He was stronger than that, right?

His skin started to peel in some places. One day, as he inspected those wounds in the mirror, he felt something unsettling fall over him. He looked almost completely different than he did when he was younger. Fiery red hair had turned to a snowy white. Skin was peeling, dying, and even starting to fall off in areas where it was really bad.

It burned and itched without any relief. The part of his brain that he still allowed to be childish was scared and desperate for the pain to stop. The part of his brain that he trained to focus on the goal thought that it still wasn't good enough. He needed to work harder somehow.

Maybe that dummy's quirk can heal it, he thought. He didn't like the idea of going to the orphanage again, but it was a feasible option.

He made his way over there. Just as he was about to get Kasumi's attention, he saw something that froze him in his tracks.

Kasumi was staring at the grass as kids around her were taunting her. There, Toya saw her dumb face just nodding along with everyone. Not even saying anything to stand up for herself once more.

"Weird, ugly, pasty b*!" A lanky boy spat and laughed. He mimicked her whining and crying. He even cursed too as something a child his age shouldn't be saying.

Kasumi didn't answer as she kept not looking at anyone. Their words were really hurtful. Especially being called ugly.

She wanted to make fun of him in return. Like calling him a girl or something.

"Is it true? Your quirk killed your parents?" A girl laughed mercilessly.

"Didja see what she did to me the other day? She moved my arm! I swear!"

""Wow. No wonder nobody wants her. That's so creepy!" The bowl-cut brat chortled.

"Hey, hey. Give me a back massage," a 'friend' of Kasumi's ordered her.

"O-ok." Kasumi nodded to her with a forced smile. She felt like she was going to be useful.

"And draw me something for class too. I need it for homework," Another one demanded, making Kasumi nod mindlessly.

Toya's anger returned. She was letting them walk all over her. It bothered Toya, but he simply blamed it on her stupidity.

He didn't feel like interfering. He didn't care all that much what happened to her at the time. At least, he tried to convince himself of that. He was impatient to ask her to heal him, though. The constant pain in his body wouldn't let his condition be forgotten by him.

He walked closer so that the kids were all aware of his presence. He glared at the kids who were bullying her and then grabbed Kasumi's arm. "I need to ask you something if you're done letting yourself get bullied."

The kids scrunched up their noses from the sight of Toya.

"Come on, let's go," they mumbled to each other to hide their intimidation. They knew Toya came from the palace. If it was anywhere else, they would have picked a fight.

Toya's hand's grip felt a little tight, but not enough to hurt Kasumi. It felt warmer than the average hand would typically feel.

"B-but, they're my friends-" She answered him in a naive manner. Swallowing the hurt she felt prior.

"You're stupid if you think they're really your friends," he snapped. His hold on her arm became a little bit tighter before he pushed her arm away altogether. "They're just using you because you're naive enough to fall for it."

And because of that.

Because of those words and actions.

That was when the waterfalls released relentlessly. She couldn't say anything, but cry loudly.

"Nobody likes meee...." She sobbed, feeling like her insides were churning from years of isolation. Years of wanting friendship, only to get this on the other end.

She hit her limit by leaking out words she kept to herself out loud like that.

At that moment, he felt the first bit of guilt in a long time. In a way, Kasumi was similar to him. That didn't make her any less annoying to him though.

"Obviously," he stated bluntly. He didn't hold anything back. "That's why you should stop hanging out with them. They're stupid. Anyway, there's a reason I came here."

His guilt was short lived as his mind reverted back to his father like it always did.

He rolled up his sleeves to reveal burnt skin, wincing at the way that his sleeves rubbed against him. He pushed his scrawny little arms toward her. "Can you fix it?"

Still crying, Kasumi didn't reply just yet. Her chest was burning from trying to swallow her tears.

But seeing the markings on his skin, she slowly hesitated to move her hands up.

She heard him scoff because of how slow and easily compliant she was. Before he could speak up about it, her hands barely made contact with his arms. The contact hurt for a split second before the process began, causing him to flinch. When he realized what was going on, he relaxed again.

She felt extremely anxious, but felt the tips of her fingers tingling. It became so natural to her to feel his blood cells starting to replenish.

Still having tears coming out from being sad, she wondered how Toya had such severe burns.

"I don't know your name." Toya would have looked directly into her eyes if she would look at him. His eyebrows furrowed. "Mine is Toya Todoroki. I thought you should know the name of the future king."

Kasumi suddenly got more nervous and stopped what she was doing. Her face involuntarily heated up due to him telling her that.

Uwah?! King?! An explosive thought compared to her quiet nature.

Her thoughts are more expressive compared to how she acts aloud.

She then snapped out of it when Toya asked for her name once more. His voice sounded irritated from being impatient.

"I'm Kasumi..." She said.

Toya noticed that she didn't say a last name. He tilted his head, keeping his irritated expression. "Kasumi what?"

"That's my name." Her eyes started watering again, while sniffling.

"Oh, right. You're an orphan." He said it so nonchalantly. There wasn't an ounce of care in his voice. The only thing that bothered him about that was that he would have no choice but to call her by her first name. It felt unbearably awkward to him.

"Yeah..." Ignoring the sadness the best she could, she then continued finishing up the healing process. She wasn't aware of just how much relief she gave to Toya's wounds. They were completely healed.

The wooziness effect wasn't too bad this time since she healed someone else. Her hands slowly removed themselves from his arm.

"Um..." She kept being timid as her voice was very quiet. She was trying to say more.

Toya was only half paying attention to what she was saying. His eyes trailed over the skin on his arms. That was the first time in a long while that he had seen his arms free of burns. Not only that, they were completely free of any pain.

He moved his arms a few inches. The skin on his shoulders still pulled uncomfortably, but his arms didn't hurt at all. He hated the fact that, with the lack of burning pain on his arms, a burning sensation of a different kind manifested in his eyes

"Tod- um.. Toya?" Kasumi blurted out his name. She said his first name because it was easier for her to say. She stared at her feet while trying to talk.

You can do it. This is your chance.

But even speaking was causing her heart to race. She absentmindedly put a little strand of her hair in her mouth from being anxious.

Strangely, he didn't seem angry that she said that. A little surprised, yes, but not upset. "What? Just say it."

"Are.. we..." She strained to talk. Her heart was going to throw itself out of her throat if she couldn't conjure any words up anytime soon. "Are we friends now?"

Asking that made her face super red. She blushed very easily when it came to talking. It was worse with him being a boy.

His nose scrunched up a little. "No."

Her face then started to grow pale. The tears that had subsided soon returned.

She was utterly crushed.

I guess he doesn't like me either...

"Ok..." Her voice cracked, indicating that she was sobbing once more. She hated that she was crying, so she kept trying to stop it.

There was hurt and a little anger residing inside her chest at the same time. More hurt than anything, so she started to slowly turn herself around.

She wanted to go hide in the bathroom again.

His eyes narrowed. Regret immediately settled in. That didn't stop him from insulting her one last time before trying to make it better.

"Crybaby," he said grumpily. "Fine. You're an acquaintance."

Then there was a little spark of hope in her watery eyes as she met his for the first time. "I am?"

She really was super gullible to believe people so easily. Too trusting for her own good.

Why is she so happy about that? He wondered. His usual angry pout had returned. After all, it didn't make sense in his mind. Shouldn't she want more than that?

Maybe it was a good sign, though. It meant that someone appreciated him. If calling her an acquaintance was enough to make her happy, then surely that meant she held him to a high regard?

It didn't change the fact that she wasn't the one whose attention he was trying to grab. That thought soon returned and caused that tiny bit of happiness to fade away.

"Sure. Now stop crying."

He walked away, unaware of the friendship that would blossom forth from that day. Unaware of the fact that she would quickly become more than an acquaintance. That day was the real start of their friendship.

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