••••••••••••••

E P I S O D E
32

●○●○●○●○

    The mysterious black substance that has been spreading slowly inside the core that they protected so dearly, even if it was affected by so little - those who was bounded to protect it were surely meant to suffer from the little damgae it took.

One by one, those who're higher of the rank felt a suffocating, excruciating pain in their chest. As if something is binding it with a chain, tightly wrapping around their chest.

Hime was the one who was greatly affected, liquids of what seems like black goo started leaking out off her eyes, nose and lips. Her face started becoming white as sheet and not long after the symptoms started showing, she lost consciousness.

While Yume who was second to the rank, started screaming in pain as a very sickening cracks of her skin started appearing on her chest, and it soon started having vines-like tattoos covering her chest part like some kind of a curse.

"Hime-sama! Yume-sama! Someone, call our healer!" Shirogane Lily who was less affected by the damage, started to panic for the other princesses - but she especially felt worried for the first princess.

"My goodness..." Her hands shakily touched the surface of Yume and Hime's skin.

Whilst Yume had vines-like tattoos on her skin, Hime's appearance is horrible. The black gooze became a stain and her skin were like papers. It's white as snow, tainted by lots of ink. The other princesses only felt a tightening sensation in their chest, but the two princesses is experiencing something horrible right now.

"If Yume-sama and Hime-sama is dealing with such horrible damage right now, I hope the three other princesses can handle it somehow.." Sumire muttered beside Lily.

  "What's the situation? Is everything okay?" Soon, a middle aged woman with pink hair rushed towards where the princesses are. And she saw them all weakened, unlike what they usually see of the princesses.

  Amane, the healer's eyes widened when she saw the state of the two most important figures of the kingdom.

"The state of the core is affecting them. We unfortunately can't do anything about it." Akari answered for them, seeing Sumire and Lily worriedly caressing Yume and Hime's face.

  "I'll see what I can do." Amane walked towards the princesses, kneeling infront before bringing her palms forward.

"𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗹: 𝗕𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗟𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁, 𝗛𝗼𝗹𝘆 𝗦𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗵."

  A blinding light of seven colors, started beaming, hovering on top of the two princesses' forehead. However, the healing spell could only do much as easing the pain they had, but the increasing curse that had been imbued in the core would continue to spread. After the light was gone, pain was no longer painted on their face, but instead is a peacefully sleeping figure laying in their arms.

  "For now, if they started having pain again - just call for me. However, I cannot guarantee that I could stop whatever curse is slowly eating them up." Amane solemnly stared at the two princesses whose currently still conscious.

"What could we do now? Saotome-sama is not here to find out what was wrong..." Akari's eyes started getting wet, she didn't want to cry at all. But the worry she felt for the safety of this world is finally catching up to her brave heart.

"Don't worry. I'll find a way. I promise." Sumire stood up. Her usual calm expression turned into a determined one.

"Whatever it takes, i'll find a way to bring the three princesses, even if it means forcing the universe to heed my wish."

.....

   After placing first for the Cavalry battle round, Ako triumphantly boasted it to Yurika who bitterly rolled her eyes in defeat. Koharu, however, is nowhere to be seen near them.

"I wonder where Koharu went?" Ochako and Mina searched around the whole place, but no sign of Koharu's purple hair.

"Is she perhaps with Kirishima-kun, kero?" Tsuyu tilted her head.

  Mina, suddenly had an idea. She flashed the two girls a mischievous smiles. "How about we catch her red-handed?"

Ochako sweatdropped at Mina's idea. "What do you mean red handed? It's not like she'll do something bad, Mina-chan."

"Imagine catching her blushing like a highschool girl, and then we take a picture of her - and boom! We show it to her face and then she'll realise her feelings for the hardy guy!" As Mina explained her plan to the two girls, Tsuyu and Ochako started realizing how good the plan is.

"Okay! Let's do it!"

"Count me in, kero."

  And so, they started looking for Kirishima instead. The first thing that came in Mina's mind is asking Kaminari, Bakugo or Sero where he might be - since they are the closest to him. "Eyo! Kaminari! Have you got any idea where Kirishima is?"

  Denki pondered for a little before he responded with a bright smile, recalling that Kirishima is actually going to buy energy drinks so he could feel better for later's round.

"He went to the vending machine together with Koharu-san!" Mina beamed at the mention of Koharu's name.

"That's a great help, Kaminari! Thanks!" With that, the girls walked away from him.

          
᯽ 𖧷

     
 
    Ochako, Tsuyu and Mina walked towards the vending machine stealthily - holding their phone, ready for a caught on camera moment. As they neared the said location, they spotted Kirishima talking with Koharu with his usual big smile on his face.

   Immediately hiding, they watched Koharu and Kirishima talked to each other. "Koharu-chan sure is cute when she smiles like that." Ochako whispered which was heard by the other two girls, as they also admired Koharu's big sweet smile.

  "She always smile like that with Ako-chan and Todou-san. But watching her right now, it just means that she's comfortable with Kirishima." Mina nodded her head in approval, bringing her thumbs up to the two.

"Let's take a picture now."

As soon as they decided to take a picture, Koharu's face became flushed as to what Kirishima said.

"Snap!"

The three hiding girls stared agape at the perfect timing. "Oh my gosh!"

"We did it!"

   After the successful attempt of Mina's plan, they quickly ran away from the scene - snickering to themselves along the way.

Their snickering caught Ako's attention, so she sneaked behind them and whispered eerily. "What kind of bad thing did you do, desu no?"

"AAA—"

  The three jolted in shock, then feeling terrified by how eerie Ako's smiled appeared to them - whilst Ako's smile is actually meant to be friendly, contrary to what they imagined.

"A-Ako-chan! We're not doing anything." Mina whistled, looking away from Ako's eyes.

"What are you snickering about then? That just means you did something right? Let me see, desu no!"

  Ochako frantically waved her hand to try and explain it to Ako without unleashing her wrath. After all, they took a picture of Koharu's blushing face, secretly.

"Ako-chan! You see, we were planning to let Koharu-chan become aware of her feelings, so we came with this plan."

Ako tilted her head to the said, crossing her arms to let them continue explaining.

"We took a picture of Koharu's blushing face, kero." Tsuyu blurted out straight to the point, which made the two other girls look at her, eyes wide open and mouth agar.

"Oh no, Ako-chan will surely get mad!"

"Save us from the cat's wrath, someone."

The two internally prayed for their safety, not noticing the look of amusement form on Ako's face.

"May I see the picture, desu no?"
At what they heard, their internal conflict abruptly stopped.

"Sure! We'll gladly show it to you!"

Mina showed thr picture to Ako, and Koharu's blushing cheeks and cute adoring expression that she had as she stared at Kirishima made Ako giggle. "Send this picture to me, asap."

After all, she's planning to tease the poor baby girl.

"Man, I thought we're dead meat." Ochako muttered but was heard by Ako. "You're actually scared of me, desu no? That made me quite sad, desu wa." Ako gave out an uncertain smile, feeling bad that her classmates actually are scared of her. Maybe she should change her approach sometimes?

She's gotten so use with being approached by the other princesses that she doesn't know how to walk up to them and start a conversation normally.

"No! We're not scared! Just a little afraid we'll anger you, that's all!" Ochako tried to reassure Ako, wanting to change her opinion about their perspective of them.

"Yeah! We respect you after all!" Mina added.

"They're a simp, kero."

What they said greatly flustered Ako, so she pouted her lips and averted her eyes. Still crossing her arms, she frowned. "I-I guess you could be my friends too. But don't get carried away! I'm just offering my friendship because I feel thankful for your respect, okay!?"

  The three had a melted look on their face, savouring the moment that they get to witness Ako's tsundere side.

  "She's so damn cute...!!!"

Ako noticed their expression and became more flustered, "Ahem! I'll get going now, desu wa!" She cleared her throat before going away.

"Okay! See you around, Ako-chan!"

Ako decided to ignore them and the burning sensation on her cheeks. Proceeding to go somewhere secluded to settle her mind. Her feet dragged her near one of the entrance, as she is about to take a step forward, she heard a voice.

  "Saotome Ako, right?" She turned to look behind her as an unfamiliar voice called out to her.

  Bright red flames dancing around the man's face met her eyes, he exudes an intimidating aura that makes people become wary of him. Ako merely looked at him like he's an insignificant creature, well - she does think like that of him.

"So what if I am, desu wa? Do you have any business with me?" She crossed her arms and raised her eyebrow, her whole posture became poised and refined - it just screams how superior she is compared to him.

Seemingly reading what her whole demeanour meant, he became irritated that someone as young as her is being really arrogant towards the number two hero. Either way, his purpose was to tell her to not get in the way of his son to being the number one hero.

"I see that you are very close with my son." He started, making Ako raise an eyebrow. "And who is this son of yours? Just to let you know, the world doesn't revolve around you so don't make assumptions that I know whose this son of yours, desu wa."

  Her words are like rubbing salt in the wound, irritating him furthermore. She can practically see smokes from his flames flaring up, and she happens to have an idea what he is feeling.

"Todoroki Shoto." Her eyes widened in disbelief at the mention of Shoto's name coming out of his mouth.

"Wait - you're Todoroki-kun's father? You don't look like him though? Are you perhaps his adoptive father, desu no?" Ako mockingly said, not believing that this guy is actually Shoto's 'said' father.

  "Whether you believe it or not, I am here to tell you to don't get in the way of his path to becoming the numher one hero." Ako's raised eyebrow became a frown at what he said.

"Your whole existence itself is becoming a hindrance towards his growth. I groomed him since he is a child to become the greatest, and you are being an eyesore."

That snapped something inside Ako. As much as she hates prying on other people's private stuff and meddling with other family problems, hearing what went through of Shoto's childhood - the person who confessed his love for her, whom she learned to care for - became mad.

  Her mind stopped working for moment, and before she knew it, her hands lifted and brought a suffocating pressure on Endeavour's neck using her telekinesis.

"You treated your own son like a tool, and you call yourself a father? I could only imagine how would that affect you in the future. And to tell you the truth, i don't want to meddle with your family conflicts because its his privacy. But hearing that bullshit, I can't walk away without saying anything, right?"

  Her eyes gleamed dangerously as she tightened the pressure on his neck. Endeavour's eyes widening in surprise, and humiliation from the overwhelming strength of this fragile-looking girl.

"And who are you to tell me what to do? Are you a King? Are you God? You can't tell me what to do because it's my own life - I choose what would be my fate, and about Shoto - you basically robbed his life by controlling him. Aren't you ashamed of calling yourself a hero? The number two hero at that?"

  Ako brought him close to her face, her eyes cold as ice. "If heroes are just like you, I would lose my faith in humanity. You're straight up trash, desu wa."

   She finally let go of him, dusting her hands and clothes as he busied his self catching his breath.

He can't believe a mere girl threatened him. Humiliation turned into resentment and disapproval. Fortunately, Ako noticed his expression.

   "If you're being so self-absorbed like that, you might lose something important to you. It's up to you whether you'll take this as a warning or you'll straight up ignore this. I don't care, anyways."

  Turning her heels to walk away from him, she spared him one last glance.

"See you never again, desu wa."

When she turned to the corner, she saw Shoto's face morphing into an undescribable expression. She stopped on her tracks for a while, contemplating whether to walk up to him or just pretend she didn't see him there.

But seeing such an expression from him, she just can't ignore it. In the end, she walked up to him and took his hand into hers. He flinched and look at Ako's soft and caring eyes.

  He let her pull him towards an unknown location, his eyes dropping to their intertwined hands. The warmth brought a comforting, and soothing feeling. Like he is being protected by an angel. Instinctively, he squeezed her hands - liking the softness and how it fitted his hands.

Arriving inside the waiting room, and seeing that no one was around - Ako pulled Shoto into her embrace. Her short height only managed to embrace him on his waist, as she buried her face on his chest.

Her sudden close body shocked Shoto. He became still, his hands not knowing what to do and where to place, internally panicking.

  His inner conflict came to a stop when Ako suddenly spoke in the softest tone he had ever heard of.

"Todoroki-kun, I'm sorry for what I said to you when you're clearly such a strong person." She felt so guilty about what she said to him when she barely even know about him.

Shoto had a small smile on his face as he finally rested his other hand on top of Ako's head. "It's okay, Saotome."

Ako looked up to him, "I'm sorry for talking like that to your father. I just couldn't hold myself back after he told me that he groomed you to be the strongest."

"I don't mind. Actually, i felt thankful about it." His face suddenly became grim after he said that, concerning Ako.

"Todoroki-kun?"

"I'm afraid he'll do something to you after you basically threatened him, after all - he's the number two hero."

Ako removed her hands around Shoto and smiled, "Don't worry about that, Todoroki-kun. He can't do anything to me, desu wa!"

  Shoto trusted that words, anything that Ako is saying, he trusts all of it.

Ako's eyes widened when she saw the same smile that he showed at USJ after the accident, that same breathtaking smile. She couldn't stop the heat rising up to her face.

"D-D-Don't smile at me like that, stupid!"

Shoto only chuckled at Ako's cute reaction.

"What's so funny, desu wa!?"

     
[ word count ]
2685

To be continued.

ᴜɴᴇᴅɪᴛᴇᴅ//

› I feel unsatisfied with this chapter, i lost so many braincells this past few days. Lmao. I hope i can write something good next chapter.