A/N:-
Hello everyone! I hope you're all doing well and just keeping it safe from Corona!
I was thinking that since this site doesn't allow for me to reply to your reviews, I would do it at the beginning or ending of each upcoming chapter! So if you guys have any questions about this story or even opinions thay need some answering, don't be shy to go for it! ️
I don't know if you guys know, but I have this story published over on Quotev as well. It's the same story but I have pictures and fanarts of my Jean/Yumi posted over there if you wanna check it out. It's under the same title!
And to take the initiative, I would like to start off with:
Jose19: I'm actually flattered that you think this OC of mine deserves the best, and don't worry about Shinso because he is not our Yumi's endgame Her future partner is definitely in class 1-A
Earl John Diawatan: About your Wolverine related question, and whether he'd make an appearance in this story, I'd have to say that I've never really thought about it, considering the fact that he passed away in the movie "Logan" along with Professor X. Also if he were alive, it wouldn't make that much of a difference since he's all the way over in America and he didn't even meet Jean in this timeline (since she passed away in this story in her teenage years before she even met him)
Temparo: I know it's an extremely late reply but I need you to know that your analytic and nice review has fueled me on to write further into this story, so thank you so much! And also, to clear your confusion, there will not be a harem/boy toy conflict going on in the future, and when Yumi will come to terms with her emotional problems, there will be a guarantee that she'll have a single love interest/boyfriend. In other words, it's not her fault that she's popular
JuggernautJJ: Your guess about exploring the history of the X-men after Jean's death in future chapters is very correct, so make sure to tune in when I do!
And enjoy the chapter!
~~~
Winning the first round and advancing to the next had been a great move on Akano Yumi's part to showcase her worthiness of transferring to the hero department. Even as she roamed the interior of the first year stadium, she could still vividly remember the words of awe Pro Heroes and students alike had muttered when she easily knocked her opponent unconscious, and she hoped that she had made her parents proud as they watched her match.
Treading lightly across the long corridor, the redhead directed her path towards the nearest vending machine to get something to drink. Since she'd felt parched and in desperate need to replenish her energy after her one-on-one battle, although it wasn't as taxing as the cavalry battle where she'd sweated her ass off due to the combination of running, planning, and overusing her telepathy.
Of course Yumi wasn't naive as to think the rest of her upcoming matches would be as undemanding as this one. She was well aware of the presence of other kids who possessed vast capabilities and had a surprisingly good grasp on their applications for their age. One of whom refused to leave her mind, and it was none other than Todoroki Shouto.
Yumi couldn't forget when she watched his match just before starting her. It was on the TV within the waiting room, but all the same memorable. People had been too shocked to cheer for the winner, and seeing it was hardly the right response for his opponent's dignity, one of the Pro Heroes who felt bad for Sero Hanta started to shout an encouragement for him. 'DON'T MIND!' And immediately, more followed. As Todoroki walked up to Sero to thaw the ice that he had created, Akano wasn't able to see the expression on his face from the angle the cameras filmed him, but without looking, she could tell how sorrowful he truly was.
Ever since then, her brain had worked tirelessly to attempt to figure out what she could do to help, since she knew exactly what went on inside his head after she'd accidentally barged inside his head during the lunch break.
'All I could do for him at this point is look at him from a far.' She had told herself, and just like that, all thoughts of him had came to a halt before she'd went on with her match against Aoyama.
But all of that went out the window when she saw him off all people standing in front of the vending machine, grabbing a bottle of water for himself.
Akano's eyes slightly widened, an action that portrayed her surprise of seeing him of all people at the given moment. When he turned to her and his gaze met with hers, Todoroki's face looked neutral, and if he were taken aback to see her, he didn't show it.
"You know we should really stop bumping into each other like this." Yumi bemusedly hummed to herself, choosing to casually converse with the dual haired boy as she walked closer to him, eventually stopping by the machine and browsing for a drink herself.
Todoroki was grimly quiet, his eyes were stuck on her, it was as if he was trying to scan and analyze every moves she made, and she sensed it, adding to her discomfort.
"Congratulations on advancing to the second round." She spoke again, trying to break the ice of the conversation that was much similar to his right side.
Without even sparing her a polite 'thank you', Shouto narrowed his eyes at her before speaking. "You're the girl from Midoriya's team..." He began, referring to her as that not because he didn't know her by name, but to establish that he didn't forget that she was on the team opposing to his in the cavalry battle. 'The one who stole my headband...'
"Yes." Yumi replied, and she realized that this was the first actual conversation the two of them had. When they had bumped into each other before, there was nothing more than a few lingering gazes and a brief exchange of words that bared no context between them.
Todoroki grip tightened around the bottle of water. "I don't really know you all that well, but I can tell this much after your match,"
Her brilliant spring eyes locked with his mismatched ones in a serious stare-down. She gave him an expectant look, although she knew deep down what he'd meant. "And what is that?"
"You're hiding something... Holding back." He stated in a matter of fact, leaving no room for argument. His words resonated deeply within Akano, taking her by surprise. And she wondered if it had been visible to everyone as it was to him as she kept watching him. Like always, there was a distant impassiveness in his heterochromatic eyes, but Yumi learned to see past it. And when she did, she could see the despair and sadness that pooled over in them.
She heard him release a frustrated huff before he began to pivot his body around, silently announcing that he was done with her and this conversation, but what she said next made him halt his movements.
"Can't the same be said for you, as well?"
He looked dumbfounded for about a quarter of a second before he quickly returned to his mask-like facies.
Yes, he was right; she was hiding her true strength. But she was holding back out of fear, while he didn't use the other half of his Quirk out of sheer stubbornness and hatred towards his father, Endeavor.
She was different. Or so she tried to convince herself.
'No... I'm just as bad as he is. I really am a hypocrite.'
Even though she'd been blessed with tremendous power, she's subconsciously always avoided trying to display them. When she awakened to memories of her previous life, she'd realized how dangerous her powers truly were.
'I was the monster in every single one of my closets.'
Akano hadn't realized that her aversion to using her powers had become a complex. No matter how many times she decided to use it and move past what she'd convinced herself, she would eventually try to find excuses to keep holding herself back. Just like she had just done in her match against Aoyama.
Yumi hadn't noticed that over the years, she was slowly, but surely, becoming what the Professor had been representing for her back in her days as Jean Grey. An anchor for suppression.
"You have to control it. What you have is a gift, but it doesn't change the fact that it can hurt people. You must keep it in check, Jean. For your sake and for the people you care about." Charles had told her over and over again when he raised her as a child. There was an incidents where she used her telekinetic powers to entertain the other kids in the mansion in desperate attempts to make friends. When he caught her carelessly moving objects and even people around with the power of her mind, he immediately stopped her.
She didn't understand why he kept holding her back, but back then she didn't know that he had known the truth of what she had unconsciously done to her parents.
Akano Yumi knew what she truly was. She was flawed and broken, she stitched herself back together, but she couldn't forget all the bad she'd done. Yumi didn't want to take out her grief, anger, trauma, or anything between on her parents or anyone else.
So she suppressed it all, just like Shouto had.
Yumi remembered when she was fighting in the cavalry battle with Midoriya and Ochako, how she insisted that they leave the defense to her. She remembered how they entrusted everything they had riding on this festival to her after she'd said, "I, too, am trying to prove myself. So you can trust me."
'Back then, was I really being completely sincere when I said that?'
A wave of silence engulfed the entirety of the corridor. With Shouto's gaze turning colder the longer seconds passed. Yumi shifted on the soles of her feet, definitely not from nerves under his scrutinizing gaze, but from the weird constricting sensation bubbling inside of her ever since she saw and felt his memories, and it only kept growing in his presence.
"Um.." She sighed, feeling an immense need to console the boy, because she'd felt what he'd felt -as brief as it was. "A-are you okay?" She gently queried, her forehead wrinkling with concern, and the question startled him for a moment.
"What's it you?" He bit back, his previous harsh glare losing its bite, but the anger that welled up inside him after he ran into his father was still there.
"Well, watching you fight, you looked really..." The redhead trailed off, frowning. '-really sad.'
"Let me tell you this," He began, shuffling closer to her, his height leaving him looming over her with a few centimeters. "meddling in other people's business, there's nothing more loathsome."
'Weren't you the one who approached me first?' She would've chuckled at his own contradiction if it hadn't been for the intense atmosphere that surrounded the both of them.
"Is that so?" She mused. "As long as we're saying stuff then hear this, too."
Swallowing thickly, Jean knew she'd be veering into very personal, very deep uncomfortable territory for both her and Todoroki, and one she really didn't want to be treading, but it was too late for that.
"Suppressing a part of yourself to spite someone will only hurt you and the people you care about in the process." She said with a sad smile gracing her lips and cheeks. Yumi spoke from experience; Jean's way of life had led to her eventual doom, and many others. People who she had been proud to call her family.
Bewilderment blinked across Todoroki's face as Yumi softly spoke, her voice soothing.
"What are you talking about?" He gruffly asked, stepping back a few paces.
There was something far away, pained, and too familiar in her eyes, something in the way she held herself, in the way her bright green eyes darkened every now and then, and Todoroki didn't like it. Not one bit.
She was like him.
'You're wrong, Professor.' She regretfully shook her head within her mind.
"I-it's okay," Yumi's voice wavered with emotion she had do idea was there. Emotion that she felt had been waiting to escape for this exact moment. She decided to not fight against it and instead let those emotions be free. 'The words that I longed to hear were...'
"It's okay for you to be who you were meant to be."
Those words rang through Todoroki's ears like wind chimes. His mind swinging slowly, his mouth dried. "What?" He asked, chary and bewildered as he looked at the girl before him.
"There's so much to you than you think you know, not just pain and anger, or even guilt." Yumi asserted, a benevolent smile morphed into her features. "So don't let it consume you." She maintained her assuring look, patting his shoulders once before parting from him.
A muscle popped in Shouto's locked jaw and his eyes held a mix of sadness and astonishment as he watched her walk away. He then abruptly slammed his fist against the vending machine with a very discrete sniffle, exhaling sharply.
"What... was that?"
*
"Yu-chan!" Uraraka jumped up from her seat in gleeful surprise once she saw her friends standing near the edge of the last row seats. She'd noticed her when Sero openly -and loudly- gasped upon seeing Akano, unofficially announcing her presence.
At the moment, Ochako's brown irises weren't the only ones set on Yumi's form, alongside hers was the majority of class A's attention.
"Hey, Ochako." Yumi awkwardly raised her her hand in greeting. She had made her way to the reserved seatings for the U.A. Freshmen, only to find out that they were only available for the two hero courses, which were class A and B. The rest of the students were scattered amongst the bleachers, which although was a thrilling experience for them to sit surrounded by Pro Heroes, it was a disadvantage for Yumi to shuffle between people every time she had to get up for her own matches, and in comparison, the reserved seatings were so much closer to the waiting rooms.
As she took in the curious glances sent her way, Yumi recognized some of them as people she'd faced in the cavalry battle. There was the invisible girl and the other one with the earphone jacks attached to her ears that was on her team. Sitting in front of them to their left was another one who stood out due to her pink complexion, and behind her was the boy with the electricity-based Quirk that was on Todoroki's team. His amber eyes were glued onto her the most, only falling behind to a very short boy who had grapes for hair. However, the one she'd actually noticed first was Bakugou Katsuki, but he in no way acknowledged nor cared for her presence, as he was just sitting there looking ahead, with a permanent scowl on his face.
"Sorry for the disturbance, I was told that I should wait here since my class doesn't have a specified seating area." She declared, justifying her being there.
"Hmph, for good reason." Aoyama snubbed, crossing his arms in front of his chest with a huff. Yumi chose to ignore his comment and instead focused on Uraraka who was waving her down to the front row.
"What are you talking about?! I'm so glad to have you here! Come sit next to m, Yu-chan!" Said girl did as told, advancing forwards and sitting on Ochako's right, greeting Midoriya as she did, but he seemed to be all too focused on his notebook to reply. Only as she sat down, she noticed that she came to miss the fourth match during her venture inside the stadium.
"Congrats on advancing to the second round!" The brunette grinned and clapped feet hands together.
"Thanks, I was lucky." Akano said with a dismissive tone. "I'm sure luck had nothing to do with it, you were so cool and calm during all of it."
"You two sure are close. Ribbit." Asui Tsuyu barged into the two's conversation as she leaned forwards from her seat that was situated right behind theirs. Yumi and Ochako flinched a bit there in surprise, but quickly turned back to reply to her inference.
"Mmm, Tsuyu-chan! We met on the day of the entrance exam and we've been friends ever since, right?" Akano would've quickly nodded to Ochako's chirpy declaration if it weren't for the the chill that ran up her spine, as two sets of eyes were unyielding on watching her.
"Oi, Kaminari!" Mineta whispered to his partner in crime from the back.
"What?" Kaminari asked, his fair brows perking in anticipation.
"Check her out." The dwarf of a pervert cackled as he not so subtly pointed at Akano who'd been conversing with Uraraka and Asui. He practically had to wipe the drool trickling down his chin as he ogled at her.
"Yeah, I've been thinking this for while, but she's really pretty!" Kaminari beamed with a toothy grin, his flirtatious side already at work. "Maybe I should ask her out."
"That's not just it..." Mineta shook his head with closed eyes, adding suspense to his words as if he were to impart wisdom. Once his eyelids snapped open, he revealed his bloodshot eyes and gestured for the blonde to take a real look at her. "That glamorous figure! So tall and slender! And yet with big boobs! Seductive red hair! Her sexy and fierce look! What a killer combination!" He had unknowingly turned up the volume of his voice from excitement, and that drew the attention of those sitting next to him, but he didn't mind, his cheeks flushing with all the perverted thoughts swarming in his head.
Then, tears of frustration began to well up in his eyes. "My only regret is that I didn't get to see her in the cheerleading uniform!"
"You really are scum." Jiro hissed with disgust. But her scowling face turned to that of relief when she realized Akano was too immersed in her conversation to mind the little perv.
"Nice to meet you, Mi-chan, you can call me Tsuyu-chan." Asui introduced herself with a smile, the short band framing her face swinging as she tilted her head to the side. "Okay?" Akano returned the gesture with a polite grin noting how friendly the green haired girl was. But what swept her by surprise was the nickname she'd casually given her. 'That's what my dad calls me.'
"I'm Ashido Mina by the way!" The pink skinned girl quickly hopped upfront excitedly, and grinning widely.
"Oh, hi." Bright green eyes quickly traveled to Mina, and she took in the appearance of pinkette closely, her most noticeable features were her square eyes, with black sclera and light yellow irises eyes, they somehow resembled those of a racoon, not that she would say it out aloud. And she also had two thin, pale yellow horns protruding from between her fluffy and unruly hair, which was a pleasant pink color. "By the way, your fight earlier was really awesome!" She added, gushing in a friendly manner.
"Hmph!" Aoyama snubbed once more due to Mina's words, and Yumi's eyes slightly widened at the childish action, but she didn't express any discomfort.
"Hey, cut it out, Aoyama." Sato warned his classmate since he was being rude.
Ashido giggled. "Don't mind him, he's just super bitter that he lost so soon." She said. Just when Yumi was about to say that she didn't mind, and that she understood why he was doing so, an unbelievably loud voice boomed from behind.
"HEY, SHUT UP! IF YOU'RE HERE TO CHIT CHAT THEN DO IT SOMEWHERE ELSE, YOU DAMN EXTRAS!" Bakugo bellowed, his patience finally running out due to their chatting. He just wanted some damned peace and quiet before his match as he observed other people's battles. He huffed angrily, kicking his leg down from his lap, satisfied with the silence.
Puzzlement was drawn on her features as Yumi took in Bakugo's outburst. His temper really was as explosive as his Quirk, she realized. 'Yeesh. Take a chill pill, why don't you.' She rolled her eyes at his demeanor before averting her gaze back at the arena down below, not noticing the glare the ash blonde had sent her.
*
The match between Hatsume and Iida ended up taking almost fifteen minutes because the support course girl used Iida as showboat for her wonderful babies, aimed at the support companies watching. The pink haired girl was good at hard selling, and after all of her inventions were extensively presented, she voluntarily walked out of the ring. It was quite unfair to the earnest boy to be played a fool and then given an automatic win, but Hatsume had no interest in the tournament in of itself.
Contrasting with the fifth match, the sixth one ended within a minute of beginning. Yumi had paid special attention to that match in specific, tuning out everyone's commentaries as she focused onto the fight, because she knew whoever won in it, would be facing her in the second round. Because Yaoyorozu's Quirk takes a long period of time to make more elaborate and strong weapons, she was no match for Tokoyami's swift and powerful attacks. He didn't even move from his spot as "Dark Shadow's" reach was able to push Momo out of bounds.
"Tokoyami's too amazing. I can't believe he forced her out of bounds just by focusing his attacks on the shield Yaoyorozu made." She heard Midoriya comment, his eyes and tone of voice a clear display of his fascination. Ojiro who'd been sitting behind the green haired boy overheard him. "He was trying not to hurt her? That's how easy it was for him, huh? She must feel really frustrated..."
Yumi silently agreed with the blonde, tailed boy as she watched the obviously depressed girl from afar.
After Midnight announced Tokoyami's victory, Yaoyorozu was gloomy as she walked off the stage, her head hanging low. Only then, did Akano's attention was drawn somewhere else up ahead. She had to squint to make sure but there was no mistaking him from a distance, she noticed Todoroki leaning against the wall towards he next tunnel entrance, watching from behind all the all the seated audience with a contemplating look.
"Next up is Kirishima's match against that guy from class B, right?" Sero started, trying to uplift the mood after they all saw Yaoyorozu lose to Tokoyami. As per his hopes, they started engaging in a discussion as they awaited for the match to commence.
"Don't they have similar Quirks?" Mina noted, her brows furrowing as she recalled the incident at obstacle race where the two of them survived being buried under the fallen Robo Infernos. Bringing a wondering finger to her chin, Tsuyu looked up thoughtfully. "Then how would we know who's gonna win, ribbit?"
"That's a tough one..." Uraraka said, and then she looked between Midoriya and Akano, one still scribbling in his notebook and the other staring off into the distance, respectively.
"Yu-chan, what do you think?" She asked the redhead, grabbing her attention, but she repeated the question once more when she seemed a bit clueless to the inquiry.
Nibbling on her lower lip, a calculative look appeared on Yumi's features as she contemplated an answer. "I heard this story once that a long time ago, there was a man selling a spear that could pierce any shield and a shield that could withstand any spear and when they met in battle, both the greatest spear and the greatest shield shattered." She stated casually with a monotonous voice, and due to the relative silence, everyone from class A heard her and began panicking.
"That's bad!" Kaminari shouted. And in turn, Mina side-hugged Asui who sat next to her. "What are we gonna do, Tsuyu-chan?! I don't want Kirishima to shatter!"
"Not necessarily." Yumi argued, and all eyes turned to the her, their curious looks instigated her continuation. "If one of them could outsmart the other that would be a different story, but it'll be a problem if they'll be both diving in headfirst."
"Woah." Uraraka mumbled from beside her, and a lot of her classmates held a similar reaction. Her analytic skills were resembling those of Midoriya's, and that intimidated her just a bit more. Not only was she smart, but she had a good grasp on her Quirk, enabling her to easily win her first match. Ochako didn't know how someone like Yumi wasn't in the heroics course and she was. A huge insecure chunk of her wanted to ask her to switch places with her because she felt that Akano would do a much better job at being a hero than her. Clenching her fists that were rested on her lap, her lips formed a tight line as she shook her head from those thoughts. She couldn't help it, what with her match against Bakugo coming up, her insecurities were catching up to her.
Midoriya grinned widely at Akano's assumptions, as he started shuffling through his Hero data notebook. "So it's a battle of stamina then?"
Yumi dedicated an affirmative nod towards him. "Yes- Hey, is that a sketch of me?"
The curly haired boy replied in a rush, his lax smile morphing into a nervous one. "N-no, well, yes. But-! I was just curious as to how your Quirk exactly w-works. I don't have a lot to go on, so I'm really fascinated by your Quirk. Could you please tell me in detail?" He said, clicking his pen in anticipation.
After she followed with his stammering words, Yumi perked her ginger brows at the shorter boy before giving him a slight teasing smirk. "Maybe after the sport festival is over, can't give away my secrets techniques."
"Th-that's right. Sorry..." Izuku apologized timidly, his left hand flying to nervously rub at the nape of his neck. "It's okay." She reassured.
"Huh? Where did Uraraka-san go?" Yumi's eyes quickly flew to Ochako's seat in reaction to Midoriya's question, and they slightly widened when she realized that it was empty. "We must've not noticed her getting up..."
Midoriya deeply frowned, his head turning to look around the booth for his brown haired friend and he halted when he realized that Bakugou was also missing. The fact that the two's match would be commencing right after the upcoming one, explained why Uraraka silently left.
"E-excuse me!" He blurted before jumping from his seat and began sprinting out of the seating area, leaving a somewhat puzzled Yumi.
*
As per Akano's assumption, the seventh match ended up with neither of the boys becoming favorable to win. She knew it was over just when Kirishima and Tetsutetsu sent each other one last punch that sent the both of them to the ground.
"The two guys with the same Quirks!
Tetsutetsu versus Kirishima! A head-to-head fistfight! The winner is-- Both contestants down!" Present Mic led on with great enthusiasm from the cube as everyone looked to the chief Umpire for her judgment. "It's a draw!In the case of a draw, after they recover, the winner will be determined by a simple contest, like arm wrestling."
As the health bots wheeled the two unconscious players off to go to Recovery Girl, the audience all cheered with awe at the two's equal abilities and passion.
Things grew eerily quiet in class A's seating area as they awaited for the eighth match to start, especially with Yumi who rested on her seat. She came to realize that Ochako had abruptly left to prepare for her own battle.
Akano lifted one of her lengthy legs to cross with the other one as she blankly thought of her brunette friend, not minding her surroundings.
Unsurprisingly, Kaminari had gotten up and slowly made his way to the red-haired girl in hopes to make a move on her, but as he walked towards her, he was interrupted when he caught sight of of another blonde guy peaking through the partition between class B and their own.
"HAHA!" Monoma obnoxiously cackled from his side, grabbing everyone's attention, including Yumi's.
A surprised shriek forced out of Kaminari's mouth as he met with the scowling Monoma Neito, bracing a hand on her chest to quell his startled pulse. "What the heck?! He scared the bejesus outta me!"
Monoma smirked, though the expression overlapped with another hidden feature that was desperation. Desperation for them to surpass those arrogant guys from class A.
Sero and Mina who had gotten a taste of the guy's attitude as part of Team Bakugo earlier, just stared at him with a deadpan. Others who had no idea who the hell he was like Jiro, Asui, Hagakure , Ojiro, Koda, Tokoyami, and Shouji blinked at him owlishly, drops of sweat traveling down some of their cheeks.
"Just so you know, next time is not gonna end in a draw. Tetsutetsu will win, we class B will have an overwhelming victory at the sports festival and then it's over for all of you! AHAHAHAHA!" He finished off, looking upwards and spreading his arms out dramatically.
Sero raised a brow at the clearly demented boy. He was really difficult to deal with. "Huh? Seriously, what is up with you?"
"Oh! Is that the guy you told me about?" Kaminari asked his black haired friend who merely nodded in answer.
Yumi decided that she'd stayed quiet for far too long, her eyebrow twitching in annoyance before she made a jab at the periwinkle-purple eyed boy.
"Didn't they teach you in grade school not to pride yourself in other people's achievements?" She shook her head at him to show to him just how juvenile he was being by bragging about his classmate's likely victory.
"Akano! This has nothing to do with you!" Monoma fumed, noticing her presence, and growling when he did. To add to his displeasure, the girl he was talking to simply turned her back on him.
Yumi faced the boys and girls sitting behind her as she shuffled in her front row seat. "Don't mind him, he just gets off on bothering others just to alleviate his sense of inferiority."
"Wha-?!"
Sero and Kaminari started laughing full belly laughs at both Akano's wording and Monoma's reaction to them.
With an exaggerated eye roll, Monoma directed all of his insults to her. "You have a bad personality as always."
"I don't wanna hear that from you of all people." Yumi sharply exhaled before she replied.
Everyone just sort of looked back and forth between the two, as they exchanged insults. Well, Akano hadn't yet stooped to his level, only deflecting whatever he said back to him. "You... know each other?" Mina hesitantly asked.
Sighing, Yumi looked back to the pink female, her face neutral. "We went to the same middle school."
"Unluckily for me!"
~
In the fall of her second year of middle school, a love confession had come to Yumi from a rather unexpected source.
The second year of middle school usually kicks off the most sensitive period of one's life, commonly known as adolescence. During it, some would hone their bodies through sports, some work hard on their studies, others polish their Quirks, and some even fall for the opposite sex, getting a taste of bittersweet love. Unfortunately for Monoma Neito, he was of the latter.
"I've always liked you, Akano." Jaw clenched tight as if he was wincing, Monoma confessed his feelings towards Akano in the empty classroom, fiddling with the hem of his shirt. A furious blush adorned his cheeks, and his voice squeaked at the end of his phrase, earning a soft sigh from her.
"Sorry, but I have no feelings of romance towards you." Yumi blatantly rejected him with a slight frown.
~
Ever since then, Neito started talking about Yumi behind her back. Badmouthing her to others about how she was arrogant and condescending, feeling like she was superior to all of them. Clearly, he didn't handle rejection well and continued to antagonize up until this point.
"Tch." Monoma clicked his tongue, mentally cringing at her coldness back then. That's why he hated people who think they're better than everyone else. Just when he was about to shout out another insult, Kendo appeared from behind him and served a karate chop against the nape of his neck, immobilizing him.
"That's enough!" She yelled, earning a light giggle from Yumi.