Chapter Text
Todoroki was completely shocked. He knew that Ibara wasn’t well, but he didn’t expect to get such bad news. He never would have expected that someone like Ibara would be unlucky enough to get cancer.
Once he was finally able to snap out of his shock a bit, Todoroki looked over at Ibara and was surprised by what he saw. Her expression was blank. She was just staring at Recovery Girl, barely even moving. It was probably the shock making her this way.
He wanted to comfort her, but he didn’t know what to say. Besides Ibara did not look like she was going to be able to talk to him right now.
Eventually after what felt like an eternity of tense silence Ibara finally spoke. “S-so I h-have lukemia?” she asked her voice quiet and shaky. She didn’t seem to want to believe the news that had been given to her.
Recovery Girl looked at Ibara with sympathy and sighed. “Yes Shiozaki. I'd say that it’s been forming for a while now. I strongly recommend that we start doing some chemotherapy treatments as soon as possible.”
Ibara nodded slowly. “Okay,” she said. Her voice was barely over a whisper. Todoroki put his hand on her shoulder in an awkward attempt to comfort her. The only reaction was that Ibara’s shoulders loosened up slightly.
“It’s getting late. Shiozaki your fever broke earlier this afternoon so you can go to your classes tomorrow. But be careful and take it easy! If you start feeling very sick again come back here and rest. I’ll inform the staff on your condition. We can set up for your first chemo treatment tomorrow. It’s that okay?” Recovery girl asked.
“Y-yes. Thank you Recovery Girl,” Ibara said quietly. She shrugged Todoroki’s hand off her shoulder and stood up. “I-I should go. I have some calls to make,” she said. She left the room before anyone could respond.
Todoroki watched her go. He got up and was about to leave himself before Recovery Girl stopped him.
“Todoroki, I need to discuss something with you before you leave.”
Todoroki looked at Recovery Girl with a confused look on his face. “Yes? What is it?”
“Keep an eye on Shiozaki will you. She seems adamant on her classmates not knowing that something is wrong. But this is a time that she needs to be supported. So make sure that she’s okay and doesn’t push herself, alright?”
Todoroki was surprised to hear this but nodded anyways. “I’ll make sure to help Shiozaki.”
Recovery Girl gave a hum of approval. “Now go on. You better catch up with Shiozaki before she’s gone.”
Now that he was given permission to leave he thanked Recovery Girl before leaving her infirmary. The halls were empty since school ended a while ago. But he didn’t see Ibara. So Todoroki started walking to the exit to get to his dorm. When he got to the entrance, however, he noticed that Ibara was there. She appeared to be talking on the phone with someone. She had just ended the conversation and started to put the phone away when Todoroki walked over to her.
“Are you okay Shiozaki?” he asked. It wasn’t the best thing to ask, but something was better than nothing.
Ibara jumped a bit a looked at him in surprise before regaining her composure. “Y-yes! I am fine. I was just informing some relatives about my situation. But thank you for your concern Todoroki,” she said sounding oddly broken. It wasn’t a sound that Todoroki liked to hear.
“Look, I know that I am not one of your close friends or classmates. In fact, I don’t feel right about knowing something so personal about you. But if you need help or support in anyway, I’m here for you,” he said in a surprisingly confident and gentle way.
Ibara looked at Todoroki for a moment. The fake smile that was on her face disappeared. Tears started to form in her eyes and she let out a small sniffle. Then she launched herself into a hug with Todoroki. Ibara held onto him tightly and buried her face into his neck as she sobbed.
Todoroki stiffened at first at the surprise contact, but he found himself able to relax a little after some time. He pulled her in a little closer and hugged Ibara back gently, which caused Ibara to cling onto him even tighter. No words were exchanged as Ibara sobbed her heart out in Todoroki’s arms.
They didn’t know how long this went on for, but it was definitely a while. Eventually Ibara’s sobs calmed into small hiccups. She had no more tears left to spend. Her grip loosened, but she made no move to get out of the hug immediately. Still, after sometime, Ibara was the one to pull back, which Todoroki found himself strangely missing.
“I-I’m sorry. I have burdened you enough already. The last thing you probably want me to do is dump all my emotional baggage on you and invading your personal space,” Ibara said sorrowfully as she wiped the few remaining tears from her eyes. She wasn’t looking at him in the eye. There was a small blush to her cheeks as well.
Todoroki looked at her with the smallest smile. “Don’t worry about it Shiozaki. Trust me, comforting you is something I don’t mind doing for a friend,” he said as Ibara looked up at him, finally making eye contact.
“Thank you,” she said softly. There were still tears in Ibara’s eyes, but she quickly wiped them away. “We should probably go to our dorms it’s already dark,” she said before she began to walk away.
Todoroki nodded and followed Ibara out of the building. They walked together for a little bit in a comfortable silence. That was until Ibara decided to speak.
“Hey Todoroki what do you think of the stars?”
“What?” Todoroki looked over at Ibara. She was staring at the sky with a seemingly serious expression on her face.
“I mean they’re stars. Balls of gas burning billions of miles away.” Todoroki said a little bit awkwardly.
Ibara looked back at him and gave a small smile. She seemed to be holding back a laugh. “Well, I think there’s something more to them. Like those who care about us, those who have protected us, are watching over us through those stars.”
Todoroki looked up at the night sky for a moment. “Never thought about it that way.”
Before the two knew it they were both at the Class 1-B dorm. “Well I guess we’re here,” Todoroki said.
“Yes, it is a shame that this day has to end. Maybe we could spend some time together tomorrow?” Ibara offered.
Todoroki gave Ibara a small smile. “That would be nice.”
"Oh I almost forgot! Could you please hand me your phone for a moment?"
Todoroki looked can confused but he complied anyway. He handed Ibara his phone, and she began to type something into it before she gave it back to her.
"I put in my contact information so we can stay in contact. Just text me any time so I can put your contact information into my phone," Ibara explained.
"Good idea. I should probably leave be so you can get some rest," Todoroki said with the smallest smile on his face.
Ibara nodded before letting out a yawn. “See you tomorrow Todoroki,” she said as she waved goodbye. She walked into her dorm and then she was out of Todoroki’s sight.
“See you tomorrow Shiozaki,” Todoroki said before he started walking over to his dorm.
When Ibara walked into the building she was quickly bombarded by a worried looking Kendo and a sly looking Setsuna.
“Where have you been?! I thought you were sick. But when I went to your room you weren’t there!” Kendo exclaimed.
Ibara felt guilty for making her friend worry. “I’m sorry Itsuka. I just needed to get some air, and stretch my legs after staying in bed all day.”
Kendo let out a long sigh, but her shoulders loosened. “Just tell me these things alright? You really gave everyone a scare,”
A lump started to form in Ibara’s throat but she pushed through it. “Alright,”
The somewhat tense atmosphere was quickly interrupted by Setsuna. “So, what were you doing hanging out with Todoroki?” she asked mischievously.
Ibara immediately looked at her with wide eyes. “He was just on a walk and we bumped into each other. We were just talking,” she said with an obvious blush on her cheeks.
“Sure, is that why you’re going on a date tomorrow?” Setsuna said with a grin.
“I-it’s nothing like that! We’re just getting to know each other!” Ibara’s entire face was starting to turn red from embarrassment.
”Come on Setsuna, leave Ibara alone. She’d tell us if something like that was going on,” Kendo said but there was no way of missing the smile on her face.
“Fine! I’ll stop for now,” Setsuna said before walking away.
Kendo rolled her eyes affectionately. “That girl always want to know about everyone’s romantic life,” she said with a laugh. “Are you going to be okay?”
Ibara nodded. “Yeah, my fever broke earlier, so I’ll be in classes tomorrow. I think I’m going to go to bed to replenish some of my energy.”
“Okay, but let me know if you get sick again!”
So Ibara finally walked up to her dorm room. Once she shut the door behind her she crumpled to the floor exhausted. “I can barely make it through a 5 minute walk. How am I going to get through training?” she mumbled tiredly. Ibara continued to sit in front of the door for a few minutes before she finally got up and started to get ready for bed.
When Ibara went to bed she didn't fall asleep immediately. Her thoughts were still racing. "Cancer," Ibara clenched her fists in both frustration and sorrow. "Lord please give me the strength to get through this," she muttered under her breath.
Beep!
Ibara looked over at her phone that has just received a message. Reluctantly she grabbed her phone and scrolled to the message.
???: It's Todoroki. I just wanted to say I look forward to getting to know you better during this time. I will help you get through this, even if I don't completely understand how you're feeling. Good Night Shiozaki.
Ibara felt a small smile form on her face as she read the message. At least something good came out of this delemia, and that she wasn't going to be alone. Things could've been alot worse.
With that in mind Ibara set her phone down and finally relaxed. Letting her exhaustion overtake her.