Two days later, the sun has just risen, and the morning sunlight filters through the windows of the Zenin estate.

The house is beginning to wake up, with various members of the clan starting their day.

As the first rays of sunlight touch her face, Helia is reminded of the upcoming training session with Toji.

She takes a deep breath, preparing herself mentally for the unpleasing encounter.

The memory of the previous day's events still fresh in her mind, she recalls the irritating experience of cleaning Toji's toilets, and how he had the nerve to stand and watch her, with a smug smile on his face the whole time.

The humiliation and irritation she felt as he observed her, almost enjoying her discomfort, still linger, leaving a bitter taste in her mouth.

[...]

As she makes her way through the halls of the Zenin estate, she can't help but feel irritated. She knows she must fulfill her part of the deal and clean Toji's toilets again, for the first time that day.

Despite dreading the task at hand, she takes a deep breath and steels herself, hoping to get through it quickly and move on to her next tasks for the day.

She arrives in front of Toji's room. Her knock on the door is sharp and impatient, reflecting her mounting anger.

A moment later, Toji's voice calls out from behind the door, the sound of his voice making her irritation flare up even more.

"Come in."

She enters the room, and she sees Toji sitting on the edge of his bed, his expression nonchalant. He glances up at her, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"Right on time, Helia." He teases, his tone mocking. "Ready to do your duty?"

Helia hated when he pronounced her name. She hated the way it sounded in his stupid mouth.

And she was sure that he knew that she hated it because he pronounced her name in every sentence he made.

She decides that it would be better to just ignore him. She makes her way to the bathroom without looking at him.

He chuckles quietly as he follows Helia to the bathroom, leaning casually against the doorway.

"No 'Good morning' or 'How are you?'" He mocks, trying to get a reaction out of her. "Just going straight to work, huh? Not very friendly, Helia."

She had wondered why he had offered his help for training her in exchange for cleaning his bathroom even though he hated her for sure.

But she has her answer now, he did that to be able to torture her mentally, irritating her to the point where she won't be able to take it anymore.

"You didn't specify in the deal that I had to be kind and smiling."

He laughs aloud this time, amused by her response.

"Touché, Helia." He says, his tone still mocking. "I suppose I should've been more specific. I just assumed common courtesy would be a given."

He stands in the doorway, watching her as she starts cleaning his toilets, that annoying smirk never leaving his face. He suddenly pushes himself off the doorway and stands straight.

"I have some business to attend to." He says, his tone casual. "I'll leave you to your duties, Helia. Remember, I want the toilets sparkling clean. No slacking off. I'm very sad that I won't be able to watch the show this time."

Right now, Helia wishes she could throw her cleaning supplies at him, but she does nothing. She just turns around and gives him a furious glare.

He laughs again at her silent response, clearly enjoying her irritation as always. He was having fun torturing her.

"See you later, Helia."

With that, he turns around and saunters out of the room, whistling a tune. Her grip on the cleaning supplies tightens as he leaves the room, his whistling growing faint in the distance.

She's left alone in the bathroom, the lingering anger and irritation from his mocking demeanor still burning hotter than ever.

As she continues to clean the bathroom, her gaze falls onto Toji's toothbrush lying on the counter by the sink. She looks at his toothbrush, then back at the toilets.

A sly smile slowly appears on her lips as she begins to consider the possibility of using his toothbrush to give those toilets a "deep cleaning" that they oh-so-need.

Without any second thoughts, she grabs Toji's toothbrush and begin using it to scrub the toilets, a feeling of satisfaction and revenge coursing through her.

She can't help but like the thought of him using it later, completely oblivious to the fact that it was just used to clean his own toilets.

[...]

She steps back and admires her work, a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment filling her chest.

The toilets sparkle clean, almost spotless, thanks to the intense scrubbing she gave them using Toji's toothbrush. A small smile graces her lips.

She gently places Toji's toothbrush back beside the sink, making sure to return it to its original spot, and then hum the same tune that Toji was whistling as she leaves the bathroom.

She tries to feign innocence, whistling the tune as if she didn't just scrub the toilets with Toji's toothbrush.

When she's out of the bathroom, she remembers that Toji mentioned he'd be gone for a few hours.

Realizing she has some time to spare, she decides to take the opportunity to snoop around his room and see if she can find any information on him.

Helia begins her search at Toji's desk, rummaging through the papers, notes, and various items on top of it.

She finds a few documents and papers with boring information, such as receipts, notes, and some trivial paperwork. However, nothing particularly personal or revealing jumps out at her.

She turns her attention to Toji's shelf and starts rummaging through the books stored there, hoping to find something more interesting or personal.

As she looks through the collection of books, she comes across a few titles on fighting techniques, martial arts, and weapons.

Her gaze falls upon a small piece of paper that seems to be tucked between them.

Curiosity piqued, she reaches between the books and carefully pulls out the piece of paper, unfolding it to see what's written on it.

It appears to be a letter. The handwriting on it is scribbled and difficult to make out, but the words on the paper could provide some insight into Toji's personal life. She manages to read:

"Even if I find your plan completely crazy, I'm willing to help you. Let me know when you'll be ready, and we'll do it."

The letter doesn't mention any names or specific details about the plan, but the fact that someone is willing to support Toji in whatever it is certainly piques her curiosity.

Helia knows that this is undoubtedly important information.

Her mind begins to race with questions, wondering what this plan could possibly be, and who this mysterious person is that is helping Toji in it.

She reads the letter over and over again, to print the content into her memory, knowing that she can't risk taking the paper with her.

Toji will likely notice if it goes missing, and the last thing she wants is to raise his suspicions.

Once she's confident that she has remembered the content of the letter, she carefully places it back between the books, making sure to put it back exactly as she found it. And she continues to search the room.

[...]

After a thorough search, she finally concludes that she had looked into every possible place for any information on Toji.

However, apart from the letter she discovered, she didn't stumble upon anything noteworthy. It seems that she's reached the end of her search.

She gathers her cleaning supplies and sense of satisfaction washes over her. Helia has managed to find something significant on Toji, and on top of that, she's had her small act of revenge by cleaning his toilets with his toothbrush.

[...]

As the day draws to a close, Helia mentally prepares herself for the task ahead. It's time to make her report to Naobito, the head of the Zenin clan.

With a deep breath, she walks towards the main quarters, making her way through the halls of the Zenin estate until she finally reaches Naobito's office.

She approaches the door to Naobito's office and knocks on it gently, the sound echoing through the corridor. After a moment, a commanding voice comes from within the room.

"Come in."

When she enters the room, she finds Naobito sitting behind his desk, a pile of papers and documents in front of him. He looks up at her arrival, his gaze sharp and intense.

"Ah, you're here." He says, gesturing for her to come closer. "Come, come. I assume you have something to report?"

She answers as she sits on the chair in front of him.

"Yes sir, I found a letter hidden between books in Toji's room. The letter said "Even if I find your plan completely crazy, I'm willing to help you. Let me know when you'll be ready, and we'll do it."

She hopes that her memory was not failing her and that she didn't make any mistake while reciting the content of the letter.

Naobito's expression turns grave. He listens intently, his eyebrows furrowing slightly.

"A plan... And this person is willing to help him?" He mutters, his tone tinged with a mix of worry and suspicion.

"I didn't take the letter because I figured that Toji would notice if it was missing." She adds.

He nods in approval, appreciating her decision. "Wise move, let's not alert him yet. We need to gather more information on this."

He sits back in his chair, his expression contemplative. He gazes at Helia, his eyes studying her intently.

"Is there anything else you've noticed or found out about Toji?"

"No, nothing else sir." She hides to him the fact that in a few minutes, she would be training with Toji because she doesn't know how the elder would react to that information.

Naobito regards Helia for a moment, his gaze searching, as if trying to discern whether or not she's hiding something from him. But after a few seconds, he seemingly decides to accept her answer.

"Very well, try to find out more about this 'plan' and whoever this person is that's helping him. Understood?"

"Yes sir."

He nods. "Good. You're dismissed. Be careful and keep me informed if you find anything else."

Helia bows before leaving the room. With the report done, she knows that she has a training session with Toji now.

Looking at the time, she realizes she'd better not be late. Toji won't be forgiving if she keeps him waiting.

She quickly makes her way to the training grounds.

•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•=•

Hello! How are you doing?

This was just a little chapter before their first training session together! Let me know if I can do something to ameliorate this chapter!

See you in the next one!

Sarah ☆