Chapter Text
“I want to find someone to have sex with. Keigo, will you help me?”
Twisting a lock of hair she had dyed black herself with box dye one day around her finger, the girl said it in a flat tone.
“Hah!? Wait, what are you trying to do!”
The moment he heard his childhood friend say that, all kinds of disastrous possibilities flashed through Takami Keigo’s mind.
No. I have to find some way to stop her. With Toya’s awful temper, once she decides she wants to do something, she’ll definitely go and do it.
Ever since he had been saved by Endeavor as a child, Keigo had somehow ended up becoming neighbors with his benefactor. Among Endeavor’s children, Toya, who was close to him in age and always clung to Endeavor, naturally became the person he interacted with most often.
In front of her dad, she would act like an angel, all sweet and clingy. But the second she was away from her family, she would put on that sharp, spoiled attitude and do everything she could to keep me from getting close to Endeavor.
She’d been like that ever since we were little. Seriously, she was so childish.
But after they entered puberty, as their bodies began to grow, something went wrong with Toya’s Quirk. After noticing it, Endeavor and his wife took Toya to get examined, but there was no immediate way to solve the problem of her Quirk damaging her body whenever she used it.
Toya, whose Quirk training had been put on hold, thought she had been abandoned by Endeavor. Refusing to accept that, she secretly continued training on her own. And once her flames gradually grew stronger, the burns she had been hiding on her body inevitably came to light.
In the end, her family decided to forcibly forbid Toya from using her Quirk.
One day, Toya got into a huge fight with Endeavor, and the argument even dragged the rest of the family into it. After that, it was as if Toya had suddenly entered a belated rebellious phase. Her attitude toward Endeavor, which had once been the complete opposite, became openly hostile.
Skipping class, running away from home, hanging around with people she didn’t even know—if I hadn’t kept an eye on her, Toya probably would’ve gone even further.
All because she wanted to get Endeavor’s attention.
One time, I finally couldn’t stand Toya spiraling further and further out of control, and we got into a full-on fight. The feathers on my back were nearly burned away, and the person who had set fire to me rambled out everything she wanted to say, then started crying.
I’d known for ages that Toya was a crybaby, but it was the first time I had ever actually seen her cry. Whenever Toya couldn’t control her emotions, she always avoided me.
Because she didn’t want me to see her like that. Because she hated the tears she couldn’t hold back.
Seeing Toya cry for the first time, I had thought it wouldn’t be that big of a deal, but my whole body went so stiff I had no idea what to do.
Thinking, “Screw it! I’ll just do this,” I reached out and hugged Toya. I copied the way I had once seen Mrs. Todoroki soothe Fuyumi and the others when they cried, patting Toya on the back with my hand.
The feeling of her was softer than I’d imagined. There was the faint scent of her hair, and her clothes were slightly damp from sweat.
My face was burning hot, and my brain couldn’t keep up with one unexpected situation after another. I couldn’t focus at all. How I got Toya back to the Todoroki house, whether I managed to keep my usual normal expression on my face or not—the whole incident ended while I was still in a complete mess.
Toya’s behavior settled down a lot after that. In exchange, she would occasionally order me around like I was some errand boy.
I wasn’t happy about it, but it was still much better than the way Toya had been losing control before, and it also let me keep track of where she was. With that mindset, I ended up indulging Toya’s selfishness and half-reluctantly stayed by her side.
Around that time, Toya’s Quirk also stabilized after her body finished developing. With everyone’s help, Endeavor found a chance to sit down and properly talk with Toya about restarting her Quirk training, as well as what path she wanted to take in the future.
With the support of equipment and training, Toya was finally able to use her flames properly. Using her Quirk again after such a long time, Toya looked at the flames she had summoned in her hand with a calm expression. But in those lake-blue eyes of hers, all kinds of emotions were mixed together.
Was she relieved? Or did she still feel that, even like this, she couldn’t compare to her younger brother in her father’s eyes? I didn’t ask her what I was thinking. I only left Toya to the Todoroki family and quietly went home.
That night, Toya, who should have been resting properly at home, came to find me instead and dragged me out to spar with her.
I was in a bad mood, and on top of that, Toya had that foul mouth of hers that was always trying to provoke people. I’d originally planned to just brush her off and deal with it half-heartedly, but in my anger, I used my full strength. Before her flames could burn my feathers to ash, I completely pinned Toya down.
Under the moonlight, Toya lay on the ground, panting, with my reflection in her eyes. My hair was covered in ash, the ends curled from the fire. I was clearly in a terrible state, but my expression was unusually cold, and a trace of ruthlessness showed in my hawk-like golden eyes.
“You finally showed your true colors,” Toya said with a smile.
As if those words had jolted me awake, I quickly let go of Toya. I didn’t smile and pull her up like usual. Instead, I retreated to a safe distance as though facing a dangerous enemy.
Toya stood up on her own and patted the dirt off her clothes.
“Boring. Let’s go home.”
At Toya’s words, I couldn’t say anything. I just quietly followed behind her. Even after I returned to my own room, the irritation in my chest still wouldn’t go away.
But unlike awkward, conflicted me, Toya’s attitude became gentler. It wasn’t the obedient sweetness she had deliberately faked as a child to compete for attention. The air around her as a person had changed.
Damn it. I’ve got plenty of things to worry about too, you know? I thought that to myself, while still feeling relieved for Toya.
At least Endeavor wouldn’t have to worry about Toya anymore, right? And all the effort I had put in all this time had finally paid off too. Just as I was feeling relieved that I had successfully prevented Endeavor’s eldest daughter from going bad, Toya said something utterly shocking to me.
Did she have someone she liked? Or was it simply curiosity toward something unknown? Aside from those questions, a strange sense of relief also rose in my chest—ah, so Toya didn’t have any sexual experience yet?
The moment I noticed that abnormal thought, a sense of self-loathing followed, as if I had touched on something forbidden.
No, no, that’s not right. This is Toya we’re talking about, you know? The little brat who’s been secretly using her flames behind Endeavor’s back to burn my feathers since we were kids, you know?
But my mind still uncontrollably recalled that overly soft feeling, and the sight of Toya panting as she looked straight at me.
Ahh, this is the worst. Takami Keigo, stop thinking about it already, will you? Toya is a child Endeavor treasures. She’s the companion you grew up with. You absolutely cannot think of her with such filthy thoughts.
Otherwise, how would you ever face Endeavor?
Anyway, no. This can’t happen.
It can’t be like this.
It can’t be Toya.
Completely unaware of anyone else’s distress, Toya showed a dissatisfied expression.
“If you won’t help, then forget it. I’ll go find someone else.”
Who the hell was “someone else”? Wait, no—do you actually have anyone else who would help you with something like this?
For some reason, anger rose inside me, and I grabbed Toya as she turned to leave.
“Wait, I never said I wouldn’t help, did I? But at least tell me why first.”
Toya stared at the wrist I had grabbed and answered half-heartedly.
“Feels like it’s about time, doesn’t it? The people I used to hang out with already…”
As I listened, my grip tightened before I even realized it. In that instant, Toya’s gaze shifted toward me. She didn’t continue explaining. She only looked at me with appraising eyes.
As if she had found something interesting.
She tilted her head, and her bangs slipped away from her forehead with the motion, revealing those beautiful blue eyes.
“So, are you going to help me, Keigo?”
No. I didn’t want to help.
But if I said that outright and let Toya go, then maybe tomorrow I’d see her come over and say, “I did it. It was nothing special,” wouldn’t I?
The image pissed me off too much. I absolutely couldn’t accept it.
“Fine. But you have to promise me you won’t ask anyone else to help you with something like this.”
“Sure. I wasn’t planning on asking a bunch of people anyway. That sounds like too much trouble.”
So you do know it would be trouble? Forced to deal with yet another sudden Toya situation, Keigo pulled the corners of his mouth down in displeasure.
“And one more thing. We’re doing this slowly, in order. Normal people don’t just randomly ask someone if they want to have sex, okay? If your mom knew you were doing this, she’d be really sad. So we’re doing it like normal people do. In order.”
All I had to do was make Toya lose interest in this before anything actually happened, right?
When it came to anything other than Endeavor, this girl was always quick to complain that it was boring or annoying, and then she’d lose all motivation.
So if I just stalled for time and kept Toya from reaching her goal, there shouldn’t be a problem.
“Hah? What the hell kind of order? You think I’m gonna listen to you?”
As expected, Toya immediately rejected my words. But that was fine. I had already thought of a way to make Toya behave.
“If you don’t agree, I’ll go tattle to Endeavor and Mrs. Todoroki.”
Hearing that, Toya raised an amused eyebrow.
“…Oh? Is that a threat? Pretty bold of you, Birdie.”
She leaned in close to Keigo and lightly tapped her finger against his chest.
“It’s not like this would be the first time you’ve seen me run away from home. Did you never think I might sneak out on my own? Hmm, what, are you planning to tie me up or something?”
Ignoring Toya’s provocative little gesture, I continued.
“I’ll follow you around all day. When it comes to scouting and movement techniques, I’m way better than you, aren’t I?”
A crimson wing feather drifted lightly into my hand. I took it and reached toward Toya in front of me. The normally rigid blade-like feather softened the instant it touched Toya’s cheek, gently brushing along the curve of her face before slipping away.
“So you won’t get a chance to sneak out.”
“Get your feather away from me. I’ll burn it.”
Snatching the feather away with her hand, Toya stared at it and gave a small huff.
“Well, so that’s how you think, huh, Keigo. Fine. Then what’s this order you’re talking about?”
I hadn’t expected Toya to accept my stalling excuse so quickly. I froze for a second, then faltered as I gave her the rough idea of how dating was supposed to go.
“Huh? Well… you should at least start with things like holding hands and kissing, right?”
Sneakily borrowing the kinds of interactions that happened in normal dating still felt awkward somehow. They weren’t in that kind of relationship at all. To put it bluntly, Toya was probably just curious and wanted to try what it felt like to have sex with a man, right?
So, should this be put in the category of a one-night stand? Hahh, just thinking about how to describe this whole thing made my head hurt and pissed me off.
“What the hell is this? Are you some old-fashioned fossil from another century?”
As if she hadn’t noticed the meaning hidden in that order at all, Toya frowned and used the feather to poke me right back without an ounce of restraint.
“Haven’t we held hands enough times since we were kids? Skip that.”
True. When they got into fights as kids, their parents would always punish them by making them stand by the door holding hands. Even when they were fighting, they often grabbed each other’s hands too, either to control the other person’s movements or to catch an incoming punch.
Toya’s protest made sense. But if we skipped that… huh? Wait, so am I supposed to kiss Toya now?
The stalling method I had finally managed to come up with felt like it had been kicked aside by Toya in one blow.
Nerves surged up inside me. I forced myself to put on a serious expression and confirmed again.
“Are you serious?”
“Hahh, you’re so damn annoying.”
Toya’s patience had clearly run out. Scowling, she tossed aside the feather in her hand. Before I could react, she grabbed me by the collar.
Toya’s beautiful face filled my vision from way too close. Something soft pressed against my lips, and before I could even realize what had happened, Toya had already pulled away.
“That’s what a kiss is, right? No idea what you’re dragging your feet for. Anyway, we kissed. What’s the next step?”
My brain was completely overloaded, so I didn’t hear a word Toya was saying. Naturally, I also missed the way Toya’s ears had turned red, and the bright sparkle in her eyes.
“Hmph. Whatever you’re planning to do, we made a deal, so I’ll come find you again tomorrow.”
As she spoke, Toya skillfully opened the window in my room and stepped onto the window frame.
“Don’t you dare run away, Birdie.”
As Toya jumped down like a cat, I clapped a hand over my mouth to stop the embarrassing wail from escaping.
Tomorrow? It’s already turned into this now, so what am I supposed to do from here? What the hell is Toya thinking? Hahh, does she even know what shame is? Damn it, of course she doesn’t. Otherwise, how could she casually say something like “do you want to have sex with me” to her childhood friend?
His face burning unbearably hot, Keigo slowly crawled onto his bed and buried his face into the pillow. Behind him, his crimson feathers puffed up with little thumps, flapping and rustling in time with their master’s surging emotions.