During the bus ride all of the girls surrounding me fell asleep while leaning on me. I was tired too, but found it hard to be able to sleep with what felt like a goddess in my lap every time I closed my eyes. Having her mumble things in my ear, or squirm about in my lap, causing her flowery smell to drift it’s way toward me. Every movement of hers just threw me deeper into her webbed nest. She wasn’t even conscious, but was beckoning me towards her all the same. After most of the bus ride was over, Toru started to wake up. She groaned a bit and stretched in my lap. She moved her arms around my neck after they were stretched, and proceeded to move her legs around my waist now that they were stretched.

I felt her hug me tightly, almost like a body pillow. She let out a sigh and nuzzled her head into the crook of my neck. She was so cute, yet so alluring at the same time. I rubbed her back and held her closely. I didn’t even realize I was doing it though. It felt like such a natural reaction to me. I wanted to be as close as I could to her, and hold her tight. I slowly realized what I was doing when I heard Toru giggling silently.

I started to relinquish my grasp of her, but she quickly stopped me. She whispered into my ear. “Keep going.” I felt my spine tingle, my face flush, and my hair started to raise and spark. She giggled as she placed my hands back on her. “It’s adorable when you are embarrassed for us. I love adorable things, and you are the cutest. Strong sometimes, but just like this the next.” With every word directed into my eardrum, my body shivered in response. She giggled at my reaction and hugged me tighter.

I shakily asked my question that had been on my mind, now that I had seen this new side of her. “What hero do you look up to again?” She giggled some more and caressed my hair while positioning herself directly in front of my face. I blushed at how close she was, but my inability to see her beauty. She then put her hand on my cheek and her fingers wrapped around the base of my head. I could feel her fingers dance along my neck teasilly. She sighed in happiness and answered my question. “Midnight is my favorite.” 

I let out a weak chuckle to try and break the fear of what I was trapped in. She giggled back at me as she moved close to my ear, almost like telling a secret. “I liked how much people looked at her, and how she could just grab everyone's attention. I wanted to be like that. For people to notice me, and not just look past me, or just at my clothes.” She brought her hand to her chest and placed it on top of her heart. “I want people to look at me. You were the first person to do that. I knew right then, there was something different about you. Yaoyorozu and Jiro didn’t have to rope me into watching you. I already wanted to find out more about you.”

I was surprised at how long she was looking at me, and how well she was keeping it hidden. She continued on after taking a deep breath. “I saw everything from the side-lines. I saw how your look changed after you got together with everyone else, and the more I saw, the more I realized... You did always look at me, not through me, but I wanted more. I didn’t just want you to look at me, but to look at me with the same feelings as the rest of the girls.” She gripped onto me tightly, almost sounding ashamed at how long she didn’t even realize her own feelings.

“I saw how strong you could be, but also how cute you were when it was just with the girls. I wanted to see that cuteness directed at me. What I’ve been through on this bus… I don’t ever want to lose it. To see it with others, but never for myself.” I heard her sniffling at this point. “You are so cute when I get to chase you like this. You also are cute when I see that look you have when you are happily with the other girls. I love seeing both of those looks. I want both of those looks to be for me too. I want to chase you a bit, but also see you chasing me a bit too… I just want this… To go on…”

I couldn’t stop myself any longer. I hugged her tightly while holding the back of her head with my right hand. I rubbed her back with my left hand while I put my mouth close to her ear. “Ok… Ok… I think I was already trapped after I felt your hair for the first time. You are beautiful, cute, and scary at the same time. Everything that you do ever since I’ve seen a bit of your feelings has… Captured me.” I released my grip, to give her room to look me in the eyes. I could feel her gaze meeting mine. We stared into each other's eyes while I talked to her with a small smile.

“This is why we started to get closer together. To build a connection. I feel closer to you now, then I ever did before. Toru… This will do more than go on… If we get closer, this will grow. In ways that we have no idea of knowing.” My smile grew at finding new things about Toru I had no idea of before. I could hear her gasp a little, she then put her hand up to my cheek slowly. I caressed her soft hair in return.

She giggled a little bit, almost defeatedly then just wrapped her arms around my neck again. She talked in my ear, in an almost whisper. “I love you.” I just nodded while rubbing her back. I whispered back into her ear. “I think I’m falling in love with you.” She giggled and hugged me tighter. “I know” She snickered as she said that last little bit in my ear. I shivered a little bit, but smiled at this new side I was seeing for the first time. I was the girls’, and when it came to Toru. I felt like I was hers in more ways than one.