Chapter 1: Planning Ahead
Ayumi was watching Rizusa set up for fighting a bunch of the third years, smiling as she had challenged them to come at her all at one time. "If Miri and Tama aren't fighting I see no reason for Ayumi to join this." She stated, shrugging her shoulders. They all took that as a challenge, telling her they were gonna win.
"Ehehe, Rizu-nee is so energetic today~" she smiled.
"That's good, right…?" Tamaki asked as he and Mirio stood aside from the rest with Ayumi. Mirio was talking with Nejire though. "She must be feeling better…"
"Yep." Ayumi nodded, turning to Tamaki, who averted his gaze from her. She always wondered if he realized she knew when he was looking at her. "Ne ne, Tama… you don't wanna fight Rizu-nee?"
"N-no, actually…" he shook his head. "I… I um…"
"Tamaki, are you going to fight Ayumi-senpai?" Mirio asked, Nejire looking over at the two with a big grin.
"Oh I wanna see that fight~" Nejire cheered. "A member of the Big Three versus a pro martial artist like Ayumi-senpai!" a few others who were gearing themselves up to fight Rizusa began talking about it amongst themselves, soon to be taunted by Rizusa about getting distracted, all their focus getting back to the bluenette as Midnight announced the start of the fight.
"Ready? Begin!" with a crack of her whip, the students charged Rizusa.
"I'm hardly a pro though." Ayumi chuckled as her leader deflected the first group with Echo, the little black dragon's pinging noise ringing through the room and the green shield protecting Rizusa from the onslaught of physical attacks. "Rizu-nee's much better as an opponent."
"But… Ayumi-senpai…" Nejire pouted.
"I… still…" Tamaki muttered, Ayumi turning to him even as he whispered, Mirio grinning as he noticed this. He gave Tamaki a silent thumbs up behind Ayumi's back, Tamaki blushing a little. "I… still… want to fight against you, Ayumi-senpai…" he whispered, trying his best not to hide against the wall, staring down at the ground and pulling his hood down over his head.
"Tama…" Ayumi stared at him, smiling brightly. "You're such a good boy, Tama~" she wanted to hug him, but she didn't want to panic him. "But I think… we should fight later, ne? Less people that way." Tamaki nodded, too embarrassed to fight her in front of a big crowd like this, let alone ask her for a date as stakes like Mirio suggested.
"Oh, looks like Rizusa-senpai's fight is gearing up." Mirio said, noting that Rizusa slammed one student into the ground, jumping off his back and flipping over someone who aimed a more energy-based attack at her. "So… Ayumi-senpai. Between the two of you, which one is a better martial artist?"
"Eh…?" Ayumi blinked. "I… haven't actually fought her recently since she kept getting sick…" she pondered. "I don't think we've had a proper match since the year we graduated."
"S-since you graduated…?" Tamaki asked, surprised. "But you used to spar… almost every week with her…"
"Hehe… I didn't want Rizu-nee to hurt herself… so I was worried a proper match would hurt her." She said, looking up at Tamaki, meeting his gaze for just a moment. He turned away again, but she didn't mind. She knew even that second was more than he could give a lot of people. "If she doesn't get sick again… I'll try." She added, turning back to the match.
"… It was that bad, huh…?" Tamaki looked up at Rizusa's fight as the woman decked another classmate of his. She was only using Echo, not a single other dragon doll needed.
"Now." Rizusa stated. "If you can't beat me, imagine trying to fight two of me." She stated. "Ayumi's just as good… No, actually she's better." She stated, Ayumi looking up at Rizusa, shocked that she'd said that. "So it would be more like fighting three of me…"
"Whaat, no way!"
"If Togata fought with us, we'd win! No problems!"
"Or even Amajiki or Hado!"
"No, actually." Ayumi smiled. "Only Miri would give you guys an edge, but its no guarantee." She stated. "Rizu-nee has suppression tactics for both Tama and Nejire."
"Whaat?! No way!"
"Alright that's enough. We're going back to the classroom to continue the lecture." Midnight stated, the students seeming put out. Rizusa left first, making sure everyone but Tamaki and Ayumi left the fighting area.
"Ne, Tama…?"
"Y-yes, Ayumi-senpai…?" he asked, noting a look on her face he was surprised to see. She looked almost sad.
"Do you think… that I worry about Rizu-nee too much?"
"N-no I… I think you worry because you've seen her at her worst… and you… always want her to be at her best, right…?" he had a sudden urge to take her hand, but he refrained, keeping his hands to himself. He couldn't just outright take her hand, but seeing her that sad broke his heart. She always thought about those things, and she always asked him about it, even when they were in school. "I… I think you're worrying as much as any sister would worry…"
"Hehe… that so?" she turned to him, catching his gaze again. "Tama…" she smiled, eyes closing as she did so. "Thank you… for always saying encouraging stuff to me…"
"N-no, I just…" he didn't pull his hood down like he did earlier. "I want… Ayumi-senpai to be happy… because when you're sad… it doesn't feel right." He added, Ayumi's eyes widening a little as he mentioned that. "It… hurts… here." He put his hand over his heart. "To see you… looking so sad… so worried…" he closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. He wanted to hug her, but he knew that he couldn't. His embarrassment would get the better of him. "Almost as much as it hurts me to be around… too many people…"
"Hehe… that makes you an amazing hero, Tama." She said, nodding her head. "Let's go. We can spar later." She tugged on his cloak so as not to scare him, walking side by side with him back to the classroom.
"Ayumi… Ayumiiiiii." Emiko was trying to get the plumette's attention, but Ayumi was off in her own world again.
"Emi, leave it." Minako said, knowing that Ayumi was probably day dreaming about Amajiki again. Since coming to UA, it was a daily occurrence. "You're supposed to be working on blueprints for when we go back, aren't you?"
"I know but…" she made a face. "I wanna hear if Ayumi and Tama tama kissed."
"I really doubt they did…" Minako sighed as she poured the tea she'd been making. "Ayumi, where's Rizusa-san?"
"Rizu-nee said she was gonna go talk to Principal Nezu." She replied, turning back to the table to talk to her fellow conglomerate members. "Ooh, tea~ Thank you Minako~"
"… I can't tell which one she likes more… Tama tama or Rizu-nee…" Emiko said, staring at Ayumi and trying to figure her out. Ayumi smiled, not answering specifically to keep Emiko making a cute, mildly confused face. She loved them both.
"So did you two think about what we're going to do with the house when we get back?" she asked, Emiko nodding and looking down at her blueprints. Since hearing that Gin was likely dead, she'd been a lot less panicky. "Oh, is that a new security measure, Emi?"
"Yeah… I wanted to see if it would work… but the percentage is only about 70%..." she pouted. "Something's missing…"
"I'm sure you'll figure it out." Minako smiled. "After all, you spend your spare time with Power Loader right? You have access to all that information, it'll come to you." She added, Emiko nodding her head.
"Ne ne, Minako~ Speaking of spending time, you're spending a lot of time with Miss Recovery Girl, right~?" she grinned. "You learning a lot?"
"Of course… her knowledge is so incredible…" Minako looked down at the table. "I… have a lot of studying to do…"
"Eeeeh… that so? I think Minako is already studied up though…" Ayumi continued this conversation until they heard the door open, looking up to see Rizusa walking in. "Oh, Rizu-nee! Welcome back~" she grinned. "Did the talk go well with the principal?"
"Yeah." Rizusa nodded, taking her seat as Minako poured her some tea. Emiko pushed a plate of snacks towards her and Ayumi turned her attention to her bluenette friend.
"So so? What are we going to do?" Ayumi asked her.
"I have the conglomerate working on cleaning up the house… so all we have to do is wait for them to be prepared for us to come back…" she stated. "Emiko's list of materials are going to be part of preparation as well… so she can work as soon as we get back… but…" she sighed. "Well, with what happened when Gin attacked me, they want us to stay for a bit…" she didn't mention Dabi specifically to not scare Minako and Emiko. But Ayumi knew… the plumette kept her smile up.
"That's fine~ I get to stick to Tama more then~" she nodded. "Do you think we'll be here to the end of the next semester?"
"No, probably not that long…" Rizusa sighed. "We're likely going home in a month or two so, depending on how long Emi's material list takes to come around…"
"A month…" Ayumi made a face, as did Emiko.
"Oi oi, don't pout you two…" Minako said. "We couldn't stay longer than that… We have an organization to run… we're just lucky that Rizusa-san made all the villains scared of her enough to prevent them from coming out immediately… but crime is likely to jump back up soon because they know we aren't at home after what happened to the house, right?" They stayed silent, Rizusa sighing.
"Don't be like that, you two…" she stated softly. "Besides, you know what we signed up for… And I'm sure the two you're both so infatuated with will not mind communicating through message or call rather than in person…" she added, both looking up at her. "Now. Come on. Eat your snacks." Emiko agreed, but Ayumi knew this was really hard for Rizusa too. Not just because she'd be leaving a safe place, but because she knew what would happen if they stayed too long. "But in any case… have fun while you're here." She added. "Make good memories so we can leave without regret." Rizusa glanced up at Ayumi, the plumette smiling back at her.
"Yes, Rizu-nee!" they all stated, as though receiving an order. One to two months… maybe a little longer than that, but even then… they had to make it count.
Ayumi caught Rizusa looking at her phone constantly over the next day or so, wondering what was bothering her. "Ne… Rizu-nee? What's wrong?" Rizusa would jump whenever Ayumi asked, turning to her. "Is everything alright?"
"Y-yes, everything's fine, Ayu…" she put her phone away. "Sorry…"
"Why are you sorry?" she asked, sitting next to her on the floor as Rizusa just leaned back against her bed. "No apologizing… it's fine, whatever it is." She added, pouting at Rizusa. She always apologized… Ayumi wanted to grab her cheeks and pull on them to make her snap out of it… but something told her this was different. This wasn't just another conglomerate matter.
"I'm obviously looking depressed or worried for you to check on me all the time…"
"But I check on you regardless." Ayumi poked at Rizusa's cheek, smiling. "Besides, Rizu-nee… I'm supposed to support you… I can't do that if you don't tell me what's bothering you…"
"… I know." She whispered, Ayumi just letting her brood for a minute or two. Must have been bad.
"Will telling you that Shoto-kun stares after you with a cute expression make you feel better?" she asked, Rizusa blushing at the mention of the little hero in training. "It's really cute~ He just stares after you like you're a fairy or something~" she grinned, Rizusa's face coloring redder.
"D-does he…?" she asked, knowing that Ayumi had caught her texting Shoto the other day.
"He does~" she smiled. "Oh did you know?"
"Know…?" Rizusa turned to Ayumi, who was grinning like a maniac. "Ayu… that face is scary, stop it."
"Sorry sorry, Rizu-nee!" covered her mouth. "But I heard that they're starting their internships! I wanna go see Fat Gum! Can I?"
"Eeh… but Fat Gum's busy isn't he?" she pouted. "Though I suppose it would be nice to see him…" she pondered. "Ah but I have work to do I shouldn't leave the school…" she added, grumbling.
"Just one day is fine, right?" Ayumi grinned. "Then you can come back and talk to Shoto about all that training he has to do for the provisional license and comfort him~"
"A-ayu, shh!"
"Haha, Rizu-nee you're so cute~" she hugged onto her, knowing her face was bright red again. "Ne? So let's go with Tama tama and Kiri-chi~"
"Alright…" she muttered, letting Ayumi do as she liked. "But only for a day. We have to be back at UA before the conglomerate contacts me… they said they'd let me know tomorrow night."
"Hehe, yes, Rizu-nee." Ayumi let go, getting up to go back to her own room. "I'll make sure we're up bright and early so we can go~" Ayumi left Rizusa in her room, heading back to her own. She was glad she got to go with Tamaki, but more glad that Rizusa was showing interest in meeting up with other heroes and not hiding in the school until their time there was over. "Tomorrow, huh?" she smiled to herself. "I can't wait to have fun tomorrow with Fat and Tama~"
((SOME ACTUAL CONTEXT OF TIME. I was racking my brain trying to figure out where I was in the story, I'd completely forgotten what was going on...
Hope you like this chapter, expect more soon hopefully!
Reviews are appreciated, thanks for stopping by to read!
-Winter Cheshire))
