"Talking about me being like him, what even," Dio muttered to himself as he paced through the campus. Not knowing where he was exactly going, he ended up in a familiar place. The garden he first visited after waking up in the infirmary.
"Whatever," he collapsed on the ground. At this point, the mental exhaustion began to creep up on him. "Haaah," he closed his eyes and leaned back, putting the majority of the weight on his hands.
'....'
'Was this what Professor Felix was talking about…?' he considered the possibility amongst the thousands of thoughts floating in his head. The expression Alex had on her face in the end was constantly replaying in his head.
"Whatchu thinking about?" a voice interrupted, causing his eyes to fling open. Standing behind him right there, he saw Hina upside down, with a bright smile on her face and eyes that melted away any thought. Her glasses slowly began to slide down when his hand reached out and pushed them back into place. It was instinctual, he was so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't realize his hand moved on its own.
"...…." She stayed quiet as her cheeks slowly turned to rose. Unaware of what to say or do, she cleared her throat.
"Uh…nothing," That was weird. Dio seemingly forgot? Or was it that he didn't want to talk about it?
"Well, that's not true," she pushed away any signs of embarrassment and took a seat on the grassy field next to him. "You were so deep in thought that you didn't notice me sitting close by, hahah," she giggled happily.
"Oh? So what I'm hearing is, my presence was enough to catch your attention," he retorted with a smile while looking at her face. Dio noticed that every time she giggled or laughed, she tended to close her eyes.
(A/N: add this to the list of images he can never forget)
Truthfully, Hina's first impression of Dio was horrible. To be fair, he does come across as insufferable, however, there was a series of events that helped her understand exactly what kind of a person he was.
"You know…growing up, I was constantly overshadowed by my siblings. I suppose you can call it within my family's nature to be competitive," she chuckled before continuing, "I had always felt that they hated me. I viewed their desire to be better than me as a form of animosity…"
"Until one fine day…during a spar, I was fatally struck. For a moment there, I was in bliss. Finally, their actions reflected their feelings, is what I thought…."
"Then there it was…my sister who never cowered or cried…was bawling on her knees holding my body. Her eyes swelled up uncontrollably as her breath continued to fluctuate. Screams and roars for help, only to gradually realize what she had done could never be taken back,"
"Or so she thought. It was a moment of pure ambivalence for me; all the hate and frustration I had felt melted instantly when I saw my own sister shed tears for me. Were all those bad times never her intention? Or was it that she wanted to make sure I was strong enough not to get hurt? Either way, her fulfilling her own worry shattered her,"
"People do things because they're people. Sometimes they make mistakes, sometimes they do things on purpose. Had I died that day, my sister would never forgive herself; the guilt would leave her bedridden. But I didn't. And John didn't. So why are you punishing yourself for something that you yourself stopped?"
"….Do you not believe your sister tried to murder you..?" Dio asked in a solemn tone. He missed his parents already, he missed the little village he stayed in. The people and how unconditionally kind they were, and the market was where everyone gathered to purchase fruits and veggies. He missed home.
"If she had tried to murder me…would I not be dead?"
Dio's eyes widened when he understood what she meant. It is true, Jin did go overboard. He did want to flaunt his power, but which applicant didn't? He was wrong for hurting John and oblivious for not knowing he was in the wrong. But did that make him an evil being? Or just immature?
"Don't even get me started on his asshole brother. In the first place, I suspect it is highly likely Jin turned out the way he did because of Blue." Hina clicked her tongue, and instantly Dio felt at ease. Perhaps the bitching about Jin's brother did help.
Dio stayed quiet and just watched her rant the whole time. Her bottle-green robe suited her very well, it was something he hadn't paid attention to before but her temperament truly did a 180 when she was out of combat.
In the distant, students of different robe colors were gathered together, training and practicing for something. They looked like second or third years with the way they moved around with familiarity. It wasn't any combat training but rather seemed more like control practice.
For the rest of the day, the two of them sat there, Dio listening and retaining, Hina talking and noticing. It was comforting to talk to another person, someone who didn't care about his personality or cared for it and continued to talk to him.
"Can you teach me martial arts?" Dio blurted out suddenly. Ever since their duel, Dio noticed that Hina was far more comfortable with close combat in comparison to using magic, which generally took place at a range.
"If you teach me how to get better at magic, sure." She replied in a nonchalant manner, not thinking much of it. However, what she didn't yet know was that it was unusual for Dio to ask such a thing from someone. He had his head up too high, to ever look down and ask another person for help.
"It's a deal then," he smiled a little and bumped her fist.
Was he really arrogant and prideful? Or was he put on a pedestal so high that he feared looking down.