Ch. 12

.o0o.

The day ended being great for you and Eto-San as far as your project. You picked out a specific design, pattern, and a few fabrics so far, and you two were the lead of the class.

You felt so...Proud. Proud of what you were accomplishing, and so quickly as well. The two of you referred back to the guidelines quite often and consulted with both Power Loader (the Support Course Teacher) and your project student leader on the matter.

You were on top of the world-on top of everything, really.

Lunch hour came and was spent in the classroom with your partner, discussing the next steps, and how to start the creation process.

You decided that once the sizes and the fabrics, colors, and designs were all discovered, you would start sewing it together. When you couldn't sew, you would hand it to your third-year student assistant who would take over. He was strangely good at determining different fabrics and materials and assisting you in determining the best for each situation.

It was really helpful. Life was going good.

Todoroki-Kun came and picked you up at your classroom, and you headed out the entrance like normal.

"How was your day?" you asked politely.

"It went well. All Might had us test out our quirks and test our limits today. It was a rescue exercise of sorts. Quite exhilarating," He said simply.

You nodded along. "I see. I assume it was a good experience for you?"

He made a noncommittal sound. "I'm much more powerful than my classmates. It was hardly stimulating."

"Oh," You said gently. "I'm sorry to hear that."

It was quiet after that.

"Which train stop do you normally take?"

"Hm?" You looked at him. "Oh. The Musutafu station, then at the 28th street stop. It only takes about 30 minutes."

"Then you walk the rest of the way home?"

"Yes." You had gone the route before, not to U.A., but to Musutafu, and you knew that it would be a shorter route than the one you took yesterday.

"Interesting. I never thought to go that way in the past," he said contemplatively.

You smiled. "Well, there's a first time for everything. Right this way."

You gestured for him to cross the street with you, and he did.

"You seem quite chipper," he commented lightly. "Why is that?"

You let out a small chuckle. "I have a project my partner and I are working on and it's going great," you said. "We are so far ahead of schedule for us and so far ahead of everyone else...I feel like I've accomplished something here, and I've only started a few days ago….It's quite encouraging."

You went quiet and noticed he was looking kind of blankly at you. You suddenly realized that you had spoken far too much in his presence...Well, he did ask….But, that is no excuse to be impolite and annoying, Hanae, you scolded yourself.

"I'm sorry," you said gently, looking at your feet. "I forget my place."

"What place?"

You looked up at him.

"Your place is just the same as mine," he said in kind of a 'no-duh' way. "Do not be sorry for being enthusiastic about your life."

You felt guilty, but not because you let him down, it was because you felt conflicted-yet again- for what you had been doing. Father always said-your teachers always said-less is more. Less talking, less makeup (well, that one depended on whether or not the left side of your face was bruised or not), less skin showing, less emotion. The showing of it, that is.

Of course, it was impolite not to answer a question truthfully when prompted on a subject, and you held it to heart to only give your opinion on a subject when asked, so you did...but was it too much? Indeed, you thought, it was.

You had slipped up, and you were willing to fix it...and now your future husband is telling you not to?

Life was about to get very real very quickly, and you didn't necessarily like it.

"Of course," you said simply. "I...I'm just confused," you laughed.

He huffed. "I can see that."

You giggled again, choosing not to be offended by his statement.

And even though the majority of the way home was spent in silence, you could still feel his eyes upon you.

.o0o.

The next morning, you were on top of everything, surprisingly.

You had found your hair ties, been able to get up bright and early to do your makeup, your bruise was now fading (finally) and Mother had washed your uniform last night-and ironed it, and hung it up for you.

Your homework packet had been getting easier, which made the new homework easier, which allowed you to participate in classes properly. You felt like things were going smoothly.

Now, to find time to train for the Sports Festival. It was less than four weeks away.

You ignored the nagging information about the wedding beforehand.

The children were healthy and happy, laughing and talking as they pleased. Shina and Akira wore their hair down in the mornings now that Father wasn't home, and they seemed overjoyed at the prospect.

Before you started walking out the door for your new day at school, your phone buzzed. It reminded you of all the comments your video had that you hadn't looked at yet, but you decided to postpone looking at them again, and decided to look at the real reason why your phone buzzed.

Todoroki (7:13 AM):

I won't be able to walk you home today. Will you be okay?

You walked outside, waving goodbye to everyone as you headed to the train station. It turns out, you were right, and you got home much earlier than you did on the bus.

Nazumi Hanae (7:14 AM):

Yes, I will be. Thank you for letting me know.

Todoroki (7:14 AM):

Okay. Also, the date for the gala has been postponed until the week after the sports festival,then the wedding two weeks after. Is that okay?

You shook your head and laughed. Even if it wasn't, it wasn't like you could change it.

Nazumi Hanae (7:14 AM):

Yes, it should be fine. Thank you for letting me know.

You took a screenshot of the texts and sent it to your mother. Father probably hadn't told her about it all yet, and that was neither here nor there, but it would be good for her to know so you could get all you needed to done.

Todoroki (7:15 AM):

Would you mind sitting with me at lunch? There are other things i have to tell you, and i don't want to seem annoying over text.

You smiled again. One thing about him was that he was terribly sweet.

Nazumi Hanae (7:15 AM):

Not a problem. Same table as before?

Todoroki (7:15 AM):

It may not be open.

I will beat you at your classroom.

You were terribly confused, slightly horrified, and curious as to whether you should take him seriously or not. Your experience with words like that made your default reaction 'run' and were never taken in a joking manner, even if intended that way. But...Todoroki-Kun wasn't like that…

Was he?

You were in the middle of typing "I beg your pardon?" when he texted.

Todoroki (7:15 AM):

Meet not beat

You felt exponentially better that it was a typo, relief flooding your body. You mentally kicked yourself for thinking he was like your father. He clearly wasn't….

You shook your head.

Nazumi Hanae (7:15 AM):

Sounds good :) See you then

You put your phone away and boarded the train, deciding not to sit down for the duration of the trip, even though it was several minutes.

You scrolled through your Photogram, looking at your DMs about people requesting commissions, sending condolences, and kind of going overboard in the reactions of your post.

It was mixed-some of the people you knew in real life were worried, some were angry they weren't getting content, some were happy you were getting a break and giving yourself one, especially with the circumstance you were facing. Nothing you weren't used to. You had been exposed to hate comments all your life, and your Influencer career was no exception.

The train stopped at the Musutafu station and you got off the train, hearing someone whistle as you walked by. You merely walked faster.

You made your way to the school from the station fairly seamlessly. Your headphones played in one ear and you hid in the crowd of people heading to work and school.

You heard a voice behind you.

"Hey! Hanazmae!"

You turned around, seeing someone in a U.A. uniform run up to you, waving you down.

"Can I help you?" You asked as they approached.

The boy had several centimeters on you, perhaps even taller than Todoroki-Kun, with semi-long black hair and a toothy grin. It looked like his uniform was modified to fit his arms, especially around his elbows. It seemed to be a part of his quirk.

"Yeah, let's just get out of the street, first, if you wouldn't mind." He gestured in front of himself for you to cross the street.

You hesitated before realizing what he wanted and speed walking to the opposite side of the street.

It was only then that you turned around to face him. "Now, can I help you?"

"I just wanted to say that I saw your video last night," he said, "And if you need anything, I'm available."

You had to stifle an incredulous laugh. Anger was pooling in your belly. "I'm sorry, but I've never met you in my life. May I ask your name?"

"Sero Hanta," He greeted, saluting you with his left hand. You felt your eyebrow twitch. "And yours?"

"I believe you already know it," you answered simply, turning politely to continue walking. He followed without a beat.

"Yeah, but I wanna hear it from you."

You turned to him, absolutely stunned at his boldness.

It was quite irritating.

You eyeballed him, and his goofy, toothy grin as he stared at you.

"What are you playing at, Sir?" You asked warily.

"Just want to make some new friends, expand my horizon. It's only fair, right?"

You looked at him for a moment more, then stopped on the sidewalk, composing yourself and turning your expression to pure regality. You bowed to him.

"Nazumi Hanae. It is nice to make your acquaintance."

"Same to you!"

Rather unrefined…

You decided to ignore that part and gestured to his uniform. "I see you attend U.A.," you said. "What course are you a part of?"

"Hero course, thanks!"

You smiled gently, recognizing his position in the highest regard. "You have my utmost respect."

"You didn't a second ago," he huffed.

"Perhaps it was because you approached me as if you knew everything about my life even though I've never seen you before," you laughed gently as the two of you continued walking.

"Yeah, that probably wasn't the smartest," He chuckled.

You shook your head, unable to keep the smile off your face.

"You're a first year?" He asked next.

"Yes, you?"

"Yep. Classes are kinda hard, I won't lie."

You huffed. You felt like you could relate to his situation.

"Aren't certain classes required to pass to graduate and become a hero?"

He shrugged, giving a noncommittal sound. "Maybe. Push comes to shove, I can take extra classes. It's kind of loosey-goosey."

"Huh," You said casually.

The two of you kept walking and you started thinking.

He's a first year. In the Hero Course.

You were now curious…

"May I ask you something?"

"You just did."

You glared pointedly at him and he just smiled. You resolved to look straight ahead, giving him what he deserved.

Nothing.

"Okay, you can ask me," he said.

Ha. You won.

You turned to face him, regally. "Do you by any chance know someone by the name of...Todoroki Shoto?"

"Yeah, he's in my class. Why?"

"Oh," you said. "Just...just an acquaintance of mine."

"Huh. How does your fiance feel about that?" he said offhandedly.

You gritted your teeth. "Let me be concerned about that." You weren't going to tell him jack squat.

"Ohh, I see."

"No, you don't." you shut him down.

"Alright, alright, suit yourself," he surrendered.

The school came into sight. You thanked the gods under your breath.

"Hey, would you mind if I told you something? You know, for content on your channel from a viewer?"

You looked up at him curiously.

He smiled and you walked into the gates. "Well, I remembered you mentioning that you liked to ice skate, but we've never actually seen you go skating. You're a really good art teacher, so I don't see how teaching your viewers to skate would be much of an issue. And coming from someone who likes to skate too, it would be interesting to see. Of course, not right away. Like, when your life settles, but still. Just a hot tip," he winked.

You cocked your head, contemplating that. You were an art channel, almost strictly...but you could change that, couldn't you? And even you could make art for it as kind of a lead up to it, right?

You looked at him again, smiling. "Thank you. I will consider this."

He winked at you and before you could say anything else, he sauntered into the school.

.o0o.

Class was fine, and your packet was almost completely finished-for both classes. You felt like you were on top of the world.

The lunch bell rang and you caught sight of Todoroki-Kun waiting outside for you.

You put your things away in your backpack, you stood and walked outside.

"Hello, Todoroki-Kun."

"Hello, Nazumi."

You nodded. "You had something to tell me?"

He nodded. "Yes. Right this way."

He led you to the lunch room before he started talking.

"My father has conversed with your father, and they have come to a decision as to the events happening at the Gala."

Here it comes. You prayed Father hadn't gotten a hold of Endeavor, but lo and behold, here you were.

"I understand your family is religious," He said, trailing off.

You nodded. "Yes…?"

"Well... your father wanted to hold some sort of tradition there, at the Gala, where those gathered are invited to dance."

Yep. That's what you were afraid of.

You grabbed your lunch from the counter and headed to a table with him.

"So what now?" you asked.

"Well, other than creating a guest list of the few people we wish to invite individually-not including family members above the age of consent-...you and I will be dancing together at the official announcement."

You blinked, sitting down across from him idly.

"We will be dancing," you repeated.

"Yes. As were the wishes of your father. Which means…"

"We'll be having dance lessons."

"Together."

Great.

.o0o.

A/N: ?