Welcome back! Here's another chapter for you all.
Once again, Izuku stood before the gates of U.A., hesitating to pass through. However, this time it wasn't a sense of awe and wonder that gave him pause. No, this time it was dread.
His encounter with Mina yesterday was still fresh on his mind. The sheer terror he had felt when she revealed she had seen him watching her that whole time lingered in his heart, and it wasn't going away anytime soon. He hadn't gone back to try to apologize or explain himself, of course. No, he just ran away as far and as fast as possible. By the time he calmed down enough to think clearly, he had actually left the campus.
It wasn't until the distraught boy got home that he realized the notebook he had been using was missing. Realizing he must have dropped it when fleeing the scene had only amplified his anxiety. No doubt Mina had found it and read through it.
Needless to say, Izuku had not slept well that night. Between his creepy staring and odd notes, Mina must have thought he was crazy. And she didn't seem like the sort of person to keep things to herself.
What would everyone else think of him when she told them what happened? Nothing good, obviously. And why would they, after what he did?
He had been tempted not to come in to class today, but the fear of him losing what little social life he had was ultimately trumped by his sense of duty. He couldn't afford to miss a single day here, after all.
Letting out a heavy sigh, he finally stepped forward, making his way to the academy itself.
Upon entering his classroom, Izuku felt the slightest hint of relief. Mina hadn't arrived yet, meaning he was safe for at least a few more moments. If he was lucky, she wouldn't show up until class had already started. Ideally, she just wouldn't come in to school at all, but that was not a likely prospect. Showing up late, though? Well, given the number of times Aizawa had yelled at her about it…
Greeting his classmates that were there, Izuku found his seat and began getting out the materials for his first class. As usual, he was pretty early, so he had some time to burn.
It didn't take long for the anxiety to return in full force. Gluing his eyes to the door, Izuku felt more and more tense the longer he sat there. What would happen when Mina walked through that door? Would she immediately call him out in front of everyone? Would she just come up and slap him or something?
Or maybe, by some miracle, she'd actually give him a chance to explain?
Mina seemed to be a nice enough person, but given how she – and every other girl in the class – tended to react to Mineta's… Antics, something told Izuku she wouldn't be so lenient with him. She hadn't exactly looked happy to see him yesterday, after all. Not that he blamed her; it did look really bad. He had just been so drawn in by her… What was it called, breakdancing?
At some point after getting home yesterday, Izuku's curiosity about the dance he had witnessed overpowered his embarrassment over the whole situation, and he had decided to do some research. It didn't take long to discover the name of the dance he had witnessed, and he spent a good chunk of time learning all about it.
Why he was so enamored by it all was anyone's guess. Izuku hadn't danced a single time in his life, mostly due to an extreme lack of confidence. But there was something about seeing how much passion Mina had put into it that just spoke to him. She had put her all into it, and then some; a very "Plus Ultra" style of dance.
A small part of him wanted to try it for himself, but he knew that was a terrible idea for a number of reasons.
Every time the classroom door opened, Izuku involuntarily flinched. More and more of his classmates trickled into the room as time passed. Finally, less than a minute before class officially started, the door opened the reveal the pink visage of Mina. She looked a bit winded, as if she had been sprinting.
Despite how much he tried to mentally prepare himself for this, Izuku's face blanched at the sight of her. He tried to avoid looking directly at her as she walked to her desk, setting her bag down as she started pulling things out of it.
Well, she hadn't immediately called him out, so that was something. Not that that made him feel any better; if anything, his anxiety only amplified the longer she acted, well, normal. Part of him wanted her to just get it over with.
He nearly yelled out with surprise as he got his wish. Without warning, Mina turned to look at him, their eyes locking. Every muscle in Izuku's body locked up in response, his knuckles turning white due to how hard he was gripping the edges of his desk. She looked at him for a moment before her shutting her eyes and flashing him a toothy grin, waving.
The tense boy managed to pull his eyes away from her, his head snapping forward so he was looking at the front of the classroom. Aizawa had just entered the room, and he was preparing his teaching materials for the day.
Izuku told himself over and over not to look at her. It was clear she was up to something based on that gesture, he just didn't know what. It certainly wasn't what he had expected her to do. To make things worse, he could tell from his periphery she was still looking at him. Fortunately, after a few more seconds their teacher announced that class had begun, forcing Mina to turn her attention to the front as well.
Mina looked around the cafeteria as she finished picking out her lunch for the day, looking around as she decided where to sit. While everyone in her class (for the most part) got along with one another, they tended to split off into smaller, more close-knit friend groups during lunch period. Being the social butterfly that she was, Mina had friends scattered all over, and had a tendency to hop from table to table throughout the week. Some days it took her awhile to decide on who to join.
However, today was not one of those days. Spotting her target, the pink girl began weaving through the crowded cafeteria.
She had thought a lot about how she was going to deal with Izuku since yesterday. Her initial plan was to just wait and see what he did and go from there, worrying that approaching him directly would send the poor guy into a panic. However, it was clear based on how he had been acting all morning that that wasn't going to work.
Izuku had been on edge throughout all their classes today. She had kept an eye on him and was able to tell just how tense and nervous he had been. Occasionally he had stolen glances at her, as if expecting her to do something, but immediately looked away when he realized she noticed.
It bothered Mina. She wasn't mad at him or anything; after picking through that journal of his, she was pretty convinced he hadn't been watching her for any nefarious reasons. However, he didn't seem to think that was the case. She had tried smiling at him whenever they looked at each other to try to show him things were okay, but that seemed to only make him worse.
Since that angle didn't seem to be working, she had decided to try talking to him directly. Of course, she didn't want to bring up yesterday in front of their friends. She didn't want to make the poor guy pass out or anything, after all. But she did want to try to get it through his head that she wasn't upset. If anything, she actually wanted to talk to him more now.
Mina felt she had gotten a deeper understanding of her shy classmate through his notebook. She wasn't able to resist reading through it a few more times, and with each read she ended up noticing little things that she hadn't seen before. The amount of just… Stuff crammed in there was incredible. It was clear a great deal of passion was written into those pages, and it was a little hard to believe Izuku was the source of it all.
Then again…
As quiet and timid as he was, there was a side to the guy that seemed more in line with his writing. That part of him that had come out during their first day of combat training, even if it was only for a few minutes. That part of him that was willing to jump into battle against multiple villains, even if it had put him in grave danger.
To be frank, Mina didn't know what to make of her bone-breaking classmate at this point. It one of the reasons she wanted to talk to him a bit more; she wanted to figure him out.
More importantly, though, she wanted to talk to him about dancing.
As she had noted before, Izuku's… Observations on her dance practice had a different feel to them than the rest of his notes. There was more excitement, for lack of a better word, in that section.
Outside of heroism, breakdance was perhaps Mina's greatest passion. And seeing that Izuku may had even a bit of interest in it intrigued her. She certainly hadn't expected him of all people to feel that way.
She finally arrived at her destination. Izuku was sitting with his usual two friends, Iida and Uraraka, and today Tsuyu had joined them as well. Uraraka and Iida were on one side of the table, while Izuku and Tsuyu were on the other.
"Hey guys!" The pink-haired girl greeted cheerfully. "This seat taken?" Not waiting for an answer, she plopped down next to Uraraka.
"Oh, hey Mina!" The brunette smiled as her friend sat down. Across from them, Izuku started to cough somewhat violently, clutching his chest. "D-Deku?" Mina noticed he had been in the middle chewing on something when she announced her presence. He must have been startled by her arrival and swallowed it the wrong way.
Before things got any worse, Tsuyu gave him a hard slap on the back, causing a small chunk of rice to come shooting out of his mouth and back into his bowl.
"Midoriya, are you alright?" Iida looked quite concerned as his green-haired friend panted heavily before gulping down some water.
"I-I… I'm okay," he finally said, catching his breath. "J-Just… Went down the wrong pipe." He turned to the frog-girl next to him. "Th-Thanks, Asui."
"Tsu," she said back. "And you're welcome. You probably shouldn't eat so fast."
"R-Right." A hint of red appeared in Izuku's cheeks as he slowly returned to his meal, keeping his eyes firmly on the table. Once again, Mina could see how uncomfortable he clearly was now.
"Sooo how was everyone's Sunday?" Not wanting to dwell on the somewhat awkward moment, she decided to change subjects. "Anyone do anything fun?"
"Dad was out of town, so I needed to help Mom out with the kids, ribbit," Tsuyu explained.
"Yeah, between schoolwork and family stuff I was pretty busy all weekend." Uraraka seemed to have a similar story.
"Why study, of course!" Only Iida would consider that fun. "After all, we have an exam at the end of the week do we not?" Mina's eyes popped open a bit as he said this. There was an exam coming up?
"Oh, right. That," she said flatly.
"You forgot about it, didn't you?" Tsuyu asked her horned classmate.
"N-No!" Mina lied. The frog girl stared blankly at her. "…Okay, maybe."
Tsuyu stuck her tongue out, giving a rare smile.
"Alright, alright… Man you guys are no fun." Mina looked at Izuku. "How about you, Midoriya? Any fun stuff happen yesterday?" The boy's eyes went wide as he looked up at her, and for a second she was worried he was about to start choking again.
"Uh, er, um… N-No, nothing much. Just… Training a-and school stuff." He didn't say anything else before averting his eyes again, concentrating on his meal.
Sheesh… Tough crowd.
The group continued to converse as they enjoyed their food. Mina was, unsurprisingly, the most talkative by a significant margin. Conversely, Izuku made sure to say as little as possible. In fact, he didn't say a word unless prompted by someone else. No matter how hard she tried, Mina couldn't get him to loosen up a little. And boy did she try.
About 15 minutes later, it seemed Izuku had had enough.
"I-I'll be right back, need to use the b-bathroom," he said as he quickly stood up and walked away. As Mina watched him exit the cafeteria at a rather hurried pace, Uraraka spoke up.
"…Is Deku acting funny, or is it just me?"
"Yes, he is normally not this quiet. I hope nothing is troubling him." It seemed Iida agreed.
"This isn't normal?" Mina feigned ignorance. The rest of the group shook their heads.
"I'll ask when he gets back," Tsuyu offered.
"Maybe you shouldn't. If something's on his mind, he'll tell us eventually. You know how he is," Uraraka reminded her. Mina just looked back at the door Izuku exited from. Again, she was trying to demonstrate that she wasn't upset with him. She had hoped trying to talk to him like she had been would have gotten him to calm down, but once again it seemed to just make things worse.
Thinking about what the girl next to her just said, the golden-eyed girl decided it would just be best to wait for him to relax on his own a little. Then she'd go talk to him.
Izuku had never been so thankful to hear the bell ring in his life. The second Aizawa dismissed the class, the boy was cramming everything into his bookbag as fast as possible, desperate to get out the door. His eyes darted towards Mina as he did, trying to see what she was doing. It seemed she had already packed up before the bell had even rung, and she was already leaving.
He had been having enough trouble focusing on class that morning. After what happened at lunch, though? He wasn't sure he actually retained anything since then.
What was her goal here? She had tried to coax him into discussing yesterday in several different ways while they were eating, but she never actually brought it up herself. He had actually gotten so flustered he had to excuse himself from the table and walk around the hallways for a bit. He had been expecting her to tell all his friends about what he had done ever since she sat down with them, but it never happened.
Rubbing his temples, he groaned softly. He just didn't understand.
She had acted so friendly to him… Why? Was she not actually bothered by what had happened? Mina didn't seem like the sort of person who hid her feelings, which is why Izuku had expected her to just start telling everyone about him. But she hadn't said a word to anyone all day.
Zipping up his backpack, the boy stood. Moments ago, he would have been rushing out the door to get home, but the more he thought about the whole thing, the more he hesitated. It was clear that Mina hadn't just forgotten about their little encounter, and he didn't want to spend the rest of the evening harried by all these thoughts about it. And the fact that she didn't seem angry with him…
Maybe he should just try talking to her. Apologize for his actions and see if they could just move on.
Besides, she likely had his notebook. He had to get it back somehow.
Taking a breath, he left the classroom and looked around the hallway. Mina hadn't gotten far, and she had her back to him as she walked.
Reluctantly, he approached his pink classmate.
"H-Hey…" He greeted quietly after closing some distance. "H-hey, A-Ashido." Stopping in her tracks, Mina turned around to look at him.
For a moment, all the apprehension he had been feeling all day returned, and he considered just running off. Fortunately, he managed to get a hold of himself before it came to that.
"Sup?" She asked with a warm smile. He obviously knew what he was here for.
"Uh… C-Can… Can we talk? I, uh… I wanted to… I-I need to…" He fidgeted with his hands as he tried to get the words out.
"You want to go somewhere private?" Mina interrupted.
"I-I…" Izuku felt a little warmth in his cheeks. Clearing his throat, he nodded. As embarrassing as the request was for him, it would be a lot easier to have this conversation when they weren't surrounded by other students.
"Follow me." Using her head to point in a direction, Mina started moving again. Izuku followed suit. She led him outside, then moved off the main path a bit. When they were far enough away from the herd of students exiting the school grounds, she finally stopped.
"This good?" She asked, turning to face him again.
"Y-Yeah…" They hadn't really said much to each other on the way here. "Um… A-Anyways, I wanted to s-say…" His chest was tight, and he was trembling just a bit. "I… I'm s-sorry about… About yesterday." He bowed his head as he apologized. "I… I was just there to work out and happened to see you, honest. I w-wasn't trying to…"
"Relax, dude. I know." The nonchalant response made Izuku look up at his classmate with surprise. "I mean, apology accepted and all, but… I'm not mad. I get you weren't trying to peep." She winked as she said this, causing his face to warm up even more.
"O-Oh." He wasn't entirely sure what to say. "W-Well, I still feel I should-
"Here, this is yours, right?" Interrupting him, Mina pulled out a familiar object, holding it out to him.
"…Yeah." He slowly took the notebook from her hands. "Um… D-Did you…"
"Look at it? Yeah." She smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, couldn't resist." his face fell.
"Oh. Th-Then you saw." This was the book he had book all his notes on his classmates in. Including her.
"That's really cool, you know."
"Huh?" Izuku wasn't sure he had heard her correctly.
"All that stuff you got in there. It's, like, super in-depth. I'm honestly a little jealous." She grinned again. "Could I, like, pay you for a copy of your school notes?"
It took the boy a few moments to realize she was kidding about the last part.
"Y…You really think so?" Everyone in the class knew he had basically made a hobby out of note-taking, but he had never actually let anyone look at his books for fear of what they'd say. "I-I mean… I-It's not weird?"
"Oh no, it's super weird," she said, the grin never leaving her face.
Ouch.
"But like… So what? I still think it's neat. I even added a bit in there for you."
"You what?" Opening the book, Izuku started flipping through the pages. He stopped when he got to his section on Mina, where he saw some writing in pink pen that hadn't been there before.
A second later, he slammed the notebook shut with a small yelp, earning a small laugh from the girl in front of him.
Her "addition" was simply two words: Total cutie. With a heart dotting the "i".
"A-Ashido, th-that… That's not f-funny!" Izuku's face was now glowing.
"Hey, I just wanted to make sure it was as accurate as possible!" She teased. Her red-faced classmate sighed.
"I-I know, it looks bad…"
"Not really. Again, it's kinda weird, but it's not like you're writing anything bad in there." She paused. "You really got fourteen more of those?" Izuku nodded reluctantly, casing Mina's jaw to drop. "Holy crap, seriously!? How much do you write, dude?"
"I-It's something I started doing a few years ago," he admitted. Gathering as much knowledge about heroes as possible was how he had initially planned to become a hero himself despite his lack of a Quirk. Besides, he didn't have anything better to do; it wasn't like he had friends to spend time with.
"That's freakin' nuts… In a good way though!" He was still shocked by Mina's attitude towards his bizarre hobby. He never thought he'd ever hear someone call it "cool". Not that he didn't appreciate it, of course.
Flipping through the rest of his notebook to see if she had left any more messages for him, Izuku stopped on the final pages that currently had writing on them. The notes he had taken yesterday afternoon… To be honest, he hadn't even realized what he had written at the time.
He couldn't help but blush a little as he read it over. This was a bit less professional than normal.
It just showed how drawn in he was by the dance. In fact, now that he was actually talking to Mina with some degree of comfort, he felt a need to mention it.
"I-I really liked your dance, by the way." He regretted his words the moment they left his mouth. Boy, that didn't sound creepy or anything.
"I could tell." The pink girl smirked, seemingly unphased by the comment. "How did you put it again? 'WOW'!" She made an exaggerated gesture as she quoted his notes. Izuku held the book in front of his face to hide his embarrassment.
"…I-It looked like fun," he said quietly, trying to explain himself.
"It is. Wanna try?"
"Wha?" Pulling the notebook down, the boy stared at Mina with confusion.
"Breakdancing. You wanna try it?" Was she being serious? "I'm actually going to the gym again to practice a bit more. You seemed pretty into it, figured I'd ask if you want to join."
Izuku's mouth hung open a bit as he continued to stare at her. Him, try that? That sounded like an awful idea.
"I… I can't dance," he answered. "I've n-never done it before."
"So? I'll teach you. Everyone's gotta start somewhere, right?"
Shoot. He was hoping that would have dissuaded her.
In truth, part of him did want to try it. He wasn't lying when he said it looked like fun. The crazy moves, the amount of energy… It was all so exhilarating.
But the reality was he was simply too self-conscious to even attempt it. Besides, hanging out alone with a girl he barely knew? Knowing him, he'd suffer a nervous breakdown after, like, 20 minutes.
"I… Uh…"
"Come on, it'll be fun!" She seemed really adamant about this…
"I…" He sighed. "I'm sorry, but… I-I don't think it'd be a good idea."
He felt his stomach tighten as Mina's excitement died down. Her shoulders slumped a bit as her face fell.
"…You sure?" Ugh. Izuku didn't like turning people down like this.
"Y…Yes. Again, s-sorry." A small sigh escaped his classmate's lips.
"Well… I obviously won't force you." She sounded pretty disappointed.
There was a short, awkward silence between the two of them. Izuku tried to think of an excuse to break it.
"Uh… A-Anyway, I should probably get going. G-Got some h-homework I want to get started on."
"Yeah. Gotcha." Mina paused. "Well, if you ever change your mind, feel free to let me know. Anyway, see you." With that, the two parted ways.
Izuku couldn't help but feel a little guilty as he left U.A's grounds. It seemed like Mina had really wanted him to join her at the gym, and he wasn't happy about turning her down. They had been having a surprisingly pleasant conversation considering what had happened between them, and he didn't like that he had caused it to end the way it did.
Still, what could he say? He knew agreeing to her proposal would have been a huge mistake. It would have been a waste of her time trying to teach him how to dance, and he'd just be a nervous wreck the entire time.
At the same time though, a little voice in his head was yelling at him for passing up the opportunity. Again, he did want to try it. Plus, he enjoyed that brief conversation with Mina; she seemed like a really nice person.
Her look of disappointment suddenly appeared in the boy's mind, causing him to stop in his tracks. Considering how cheerful she always was, it was a rather striking image.
…He was going to be thinking about it for the rest of the day, wasn't he?
Izuku sighed. Between his empathy for others and his genuine desire to try something new, he knew this was going to keep bothering him.
"…I'm really going to regret this, aren't I?"
Mina began stretching her legs, now changed into her workout clothes. She was back in the dance studio at Gamma Gym, preparing to practice her routines a bit more.
Part of her didn't even want to bother. Half the reason he decided to do this was because she was hoping she'd have company today.
It had been a spur of the moment to invite Izuku to join her. She had planned on talking with him about her hobby a bit, but before she knew it she was asking him if he wanted to try. She felt a bit dumb in retrospect; obviously he wouldn't want to. He was way too shy to just say yes to an out-of-the-blue invitation like that.
She was just so excited about having the chance to share her passion with someone… And make a new friend, for that matter.
Maybe he'd come around eventually. He was obviously interested; heck, he had outright said he thought it looked like fun.
"Oh well… For now I should just-huh?"
The sound of the door opening pulled Mina from her thoughts. Turning her head, her eyes widened for a moment, then relaxed. A huge grin appeared on her face.
"H-Hi…" Izuku said, waving.
And so it begins. Setups all taken care of, now we can really get rolling. While I hate to sound like I'm begging, I do want to encourage any and all feedback from you folks. It's pretty darn important to me; how else can I know how I'm doing? Anyway, see you next time.
