I want him to come back. It pained her heart to see him cry too. Sure, she always cried, but this was different. It was the first time Toya had shed tears around her.

Was he going to be alright?

Seeing his back turned made her want to call out for him to come back. But he was too far ahead to even hear her. She didn't have the courage to speak up.

"I'm fine, Toya." She tried to reassure, knowing he couldn't hear her.

Then she sniffled loudly. She really does cry a lot. He was right about her being a crybaby.

"I can fix it." She didn't look at Fuyumi when she said that with a cracking voice. She used her other hand to attempt to heal it.

I don't want to leave either...

She dreaded going back to the orphanage. Whenever she was with Toya, it made her days start to be fun. Well, even though he was kind of mean at times.

He finally considered her a friend. Her very first friend. She didn't want him to be sad.

Fuyumi's eyes lit up. Curiosity and wonder sparkled in her gaze. "You have a healing quirk? That's amazing!"

Usually, Kasumi would feel happy to have a compliment, but she was still feeling very sad. She felt super dizzy from fixing her hand. She wobbled a bit.

She kept sniffling hard. "...Yeah..."

Fuyumi moved to her side. She took her hand with all the tenderness that a mother would have. Even though she wasn't much older than her, she had an air of maturity about her.

Fuyumi led her to a seat in the kitchen. "Here. You can sit down while I cook something for you!"

The kitchen was certainly extravagant. It was triple the size of her orphanage's one. Again, she was looking around, but more tearfully this time.

She cooks? She didn't think someone her age would be able to. She never learned how to cook and wondered if that's someone with a family could do.

She was too naive to know about their family's complications.

She thought she was supposed to leave, but Fuyumi was too compassionate to let her go like that. Kasumi wasn't used to this type of kindness.

She was hungry, but she was also a picky eater. I hope it's good...

Still sniffling and rubbing her eyes, her thoughts kept themselves wrapped around the subject of Toya.

....

Even though she said he doesn't hate me... what if he doesn't want to see me again?

She didn't know that he was thinking about her, too. Instead of going to his own room, he went straight to the training room. He thought that maybe he could get out his frustration that way, but he could hardly activate his quirk properly.

Fire came forth from his body, but then immediately went away as his knees betrayed him. He was still just a fragile kid. The pain inside of him was far worse than the physical pain.

He cried out angrily as he tried to rub his eyes hard enough to make the tears go away. Nothing that he did could stop the sobs from overtaking him. He put his fists on the ground in front of him, stifling the aggravated scream that wanted to push its way out past his lips.

Why can't I just have what Shoto has? Why does he get the things that I want when he doesn't even appreciate any of it?! He was gasping for air at that point, completely breaking down like he had so many times before.

To make matters worse, he had hurt Kasumi. His ticket to getting his father's attention. His friend.

What if she abandons me too?

...

After Fuyumi had made Kasumi some muffins, she had her take them with her to sneak out of the castle.

Fuyumi was so very nice to her. She'd talk about how the process was with making recipes. Asked Kasumi what her hobbies were too. All that was talked about as she was leading her to the way out.

She motioned her where to go since Kasumi was practically lost.

At the exit, Fuyumi was about to part ways with her, but Kasumi had to say something.

"Thanks for the muffins and... um.." Her words failed her once more. But Fuyumi was very patient with her to speak properly. "Will you be my friend..too...?"

Fuyumi beamed at that. "Of course! I already said that I wanted to be your friend, silly!"

"Ok..." Kasumi took a glance over Fuyumi's shoulder, hoping to see Toya once more.

Of course, Kasumi felt glad to make another friend, but she hoped to say goodbye to Toya too.

But he didn't come. She had a look of disappointment that was obvious to Fuyumi.

"Bye," she said as she made her way to leave. That prompted Fuyumi to get a look of determination to go talk to Toya.

Fuyumi knew her brother well enough to know where he was probably at. She took large steps full of purpose as he went to look for him. She had to adjust her glasses every so often as she did so.

She eventually reached the training room. There, she saw Toya in a sobbing heap on the ground. Her expression softened when she saw him. "Toya..."

"Go away!" Toya practically screamed. He buried his face deeper in his hands. "I don't want to see you!"

Fuyumi flinched at his tone. "Kasumi seemed upset. I wanted you to know that she seems to care about you a lot."

"Why would she?!" Toya argued back. "I hurt her!"

Fuyumi closed her eyes for a second before taking a shaking breath. "It was an accident."

She could see that the conversation was getting nowhere. Toya was too upset to see reason just yet. It left Fuyumi feeling hopeless that she couldn't do more to stop his pain.

She had been through a lot with him. She wished she could be there for Shoto too, but, of course, that wouldn't happen. Trying to be strong was hard sometimes. She would sit on the ground with her hands covering her ears to block out the sound of angry yells and crying from both brothers. From her mother. It was a terrifying thing for her.

When Toya only continued to cry, she walked closer. She knelt down across from him and embraced him in a hug. "It's ok. I promise. She really wants to see you again."

No more words were shared between them. All Fuyumi could do was try to comfort her crying brother.

...

Another month had went by. After that incident with Toya, he made it seem like nothing had happened. He would always seem like he was really headstrong.

As for apologizing for her hand, he didn't exactly apologize for it.

It was more or less a 'you healed it so it's fine now?' type of thing. He was a bit too gruff to show any signs of guilt or sympathy. Kasumi was too oblivious to see the guilt buried beneath his eyes.

There were days Toya didn't come out at all. Kasumi didn't even know he was dealing with his inner conflicts since that had happened.

But on days Toya did come outside, Fuyumi sometimes did too.

They all would play games like pick up sticks or hide-n-seek tag.

Another one of those days had come where it had drawn out loneliness from Kasumi's heart.

She saw the girl with the bowl-cut getting adopted. She stuck out her tongue towards Kasumi in a cocky manner.

It was nice one of the bullies was leaving. It gave her that satisfaction.

But...

Will I have a family someday too? She looked at the parents taking children to leave with them.

It was always the case whenever she had moved from one orphanage to the next.

That feeling of being unwanted made her feel like no one would ever want her.

What if Toya and Fuyumi would be that way too...? Not want to be around me...?

She found herself drawing near the castle in the entrance Toya would sneak her in.

Eep. What am I doing? She felt a rush of anxiety. Was she really about to go inside without anyone else taking her?

Ok. Just... one peek...

She felt like looking inside would make her feel better and less sad. Cautiously, she popped her head inside.

"Hey. Crybaby."

Toya's face popped up directly in front of her. He moved so suddenly that it was mildly impressive he was able to even do that. When she jumped in surprise, he must have gotten his desired result, because he let out a snicker.

"Hey!" She furrowed her eyebrows in a pout. "Don't do thaaaaaat!"

She held her head to calm herself down from the small thrill of it. Her voice was mildly louder compared to her quieter tone.

"It's fun though," he argued back with a roll of his eyes. "You just get scared too easily."

She gasped in mock offense. "I do not!"

Then she blurted out a thought she had. "Were you waiting to see me?"

Toya shook his head. "No. I didn't expect you to come inside like that. I was about to go out. But you didn't see me!"

When Toya was in a good mood, he would soften up around her a little bit. He would allow himself to momentarily feel the happiness that came with her presence. It was only when he was reminded of his situation that he would really snap and change his demeanor entirely.

"Oh." She immediately believed him anyway like the gullible girl she was.

Then, she brought out her sketchbook. She moved it towards him ever so timidly. She was doing that thing again where she wouldn't speak up.