It's a smashing sound that wakes Rinoa from where she slumbers on a couch. Her eyes open and she finds herself staring out the window as the sun rises beyond the high-rise buildings revealing that she is no longer in Norway, no longer in New Asgard, but instead she is in Mustafa. She's in Japan and has been for some hours now. She pushes herself up to peer over the back of the couch to the kitchen where Toshinori is pulling a face at the broken plate on the floor by his feet. It is clear that he was attempting to either put away his dishes from the night before, or make breakfast without waking her. It's the latter. Her flight got in late and he wanted to make her breakfast before waking her because it was a long flight. 15 hours and they barely spoke when she got in. He wanted to get her back to the apartment and let her sleep off her travel. Especially as she is going to have a long day with orientation. Plus he wanted to make up for missing her birthday. He was planning on being there, but then things happened and he was stuck in Japan. She understood why he didn't come to visit her on her birthday, she lives among heroes, and she understands the duty that comes from that. He never had to apologise. And he made up for it. By letting her sleep on his couch for the night before she has access to her college dormitory. She tilts her head as he leans down to pick up the pieces of the broken plate.
"Uncle Toshi" She starts softly and he jumps a little before continuing his task.
"Sorry," He looks across at her and gives her a small smile. "I didn't want to wake you" She hums a little and leans on her arms on the back of the couch. "How was the couch?" He asks.
"It was okay" She assures him softly. It's not her bed. It's not nearly as comfortable as a bed would have been but for the sake of a night, or a couple of days, she will take it.
"I wish you'd taken my bed"
"It's only for a few days" She stops him. "I will survive the couch" She assures him softly as she pushes herself to her feet and moves to where he is standing.
"Are you nervous for today?" He asks, she hums a little as she takes the broken plate from him to throw it out
"A little" She admits. "I've never been to school before, my mom thought she was better suited to teach me what I needed to be taught. And well...I don't feel...lacking"
"You are a very bright young woman" Toshinori assures her. "And socially you are very adept" She snorts a little and looks up at him as he pours coffee into a thermos.
"Adept" She repeats.
"You'll be fine" He pats her shoulder and gives her a smile. "It's the first day" He offers. "Not even that....it's Orientation" She sits on the couch in front of a small pile of paperwork sent to her a few weeks ago with all the details about her hero course. "You'll meet your home-room teacher, and the rest of your class, there'll be a few team games..."
"Hmm, my letter says that I need to bring gym clothing" She points out, he frowns a little and looks at her. She nods, to push her point home. He takes the page from her and then frowns down at the page. It's an additional note, handwritten instead of typed.
"Interesting" He comments and then hands the letter back. "Maybe they have added something else this year...."
"As a teacher at this college, you should know" She comments as she tucks the papers into the packet sent to her.
"Today is all about your Homero" He counters. "All the other teachers had no input" He sits at her side and lets out a breath.
"Are you nervous?" She asks him, he snorts and then shrugs a little. "I am sure that taking on some of our worst villains is just the same as taking on a class of twenty teenagers" She teases.'
"I think I would prefer to face Thanos again" He argues and she chuckles.
"You'll be fine" She repeats the same reassurance back at him, patting his knee. The two of them share a look and he rolls his eyes fondly before he stands and moves to his bookshelf, pulling the storage box from the bottom to pull a gift-wrapped box from inside. "I told you that you didn't have to get me anything" She argues. "And my birthday was like six months ago"
"Well tough because I did get you one" He holds out the wrapped box which she takes from him. "Valkyrie said you were eyeing this one up" Toshinori admits as he stands from the couch as she tears into the box. She might not have needed a gift from him, but she is excited to tear into it, pulling the lid from the box beneath. She pulls a handbag from the box, her eyes growing wide as she takes it in. Rinoa smiles and hugs the handbag to her chest. It's a designed handbag that she'd seen at the designer boutique in New Asgard. It's called the Lightning Bug and it's black with gold detailing on it and gold lightning symbol decorated bug charms hanging from it. She'd never said anything about it because it was ridiculously expensive. Stupidly expensive for a handbag. But clearly, Valkyrie saw her drooling over it. She then suddenly remembers how much this costs.
"Uncle Toshi" She turns to watch him cross the room. "I can't...." She argues. "I can't...take this. It's so...so expensive"
"They were happy to gift All Might with one" He stops her. "I just have to borrow it for the next fundraising event I attend so I can show it off" She hugs the bag tighter to her chest and smiles. She gets a beautiful bag and she doesn't have to worry that he's paid too much for it. Toshinori smiles softly as she beams over her gift. She loves it so much. "Do you want breakfast?" He asks and then lets out a breath. "I was planning on making some before...." He looks back at Rinoa who hums a little. Thoughtful. If she eats and becomes too nervous then she might get sick, but then she might end up getting grouchy if she doesn't eat.
"Maybe some toast" She answers. "And some tea" He nods and heads towards the kitchen. She pulls the bag back to open it up. To inspect how much space she has to use. She wants to be able to use it as an everyday bag. To be able to stuff it with her books and anything else she might need for her classes.
