"Waaaa! Niwa lives in this kind of place! So cool!" A familiar voice echoed from near her driveway.
Niwa looked up, standing straight with her hands at her waist and attempting to bend the pain out of her back. She stood in the middle of their small-sized farm with Masuru a few meters away.
They were spending the day weeding out the troublesome plants from their crops and checking the plants for diseases or bugs.
"Friends of yours?" Masuru asked and glanced over to the four girls who stood on her driveway, happily waving to Niwa with big excited grins.
Niwa chuckled, waving back to the girls with one hand and the other grabbed at the small towel sat around her neck, "Yeah," Niwa replied while wiping the sweat away from her face and the back of her neck.
"Let's go swimming!" Mina shouted with her hands cupped around her mouth.
"Loud." Masuru complained.
Niwa snorted, "I can go, right?"
"Who's stopping you?" The short-haired hulking brother replied.
Niwa grinned and took off with a run back to her house, quickly shoving her school swimming suit – and a bikini as well, just in case – into a backpack she had already stuffed with some snacks, her phone charger, earphones, and her wallet.
Niwa rushed out of the house, sliding between Fukushia's legs just because, why the hell not mess with her brother a bit. Niwa ignored her oldest brothers swearing and childish remarks with cheeky little giggles, only slowing to a stop as she approached her friends.
Mina, Momo, Kyoka, and Tsuyu were all watching and waiting excitedly as Niwa joined them.
"Now we just have to go pick up Uraraka and we can finally go swimming!" Mina yelled excitedly.
After a stop at Uraraka's house along the way to their school, all the girls were quick to get changed and wait around chatting endlessly for each other. They all got changed into their school swimsuits considering they were on school grounds and using the school pool.
"Let's do some stretching first!" Momo clapped happily.
"Yeah!" The girls cheered and followed after as Momo took the lead for the stretches. Niwa's mood had been the best she had ever felt. It was truly amazing to be able to enjoy acting so silly with her friends and not having to worry about their opinions. Niwa had come to trust that the girls would have her back if anything happened, like Niwa was determined to have theirs.
"Hello, everyone!" Another familiar voice called from the entrance of the pools.
The girls all looked over in surprise, "Iida! Guys! What brings you all here?" Uraraka asked in confusion.
"We have been granted permission to use the pool for endurance training!" Iida replied.
"Nice," Niwa smirked to the other boys, "We got permission to use it for recreational recovery."
"Sunbathing and volleyball!" Mina shouted loudly with a massive grin.
"I see! It is a good idea to both train and recover before our Training camp!" Iida, ever the optimist, agreed with the girl's use of the pool. Though some of the other guys looked a little annoyed through their smiles as Kyoka walked over with an inflated beachball.
The girls happily spent their time bouncing the inflatable ball between themselves, consumed in fits of giggles and wild movements to keep the ball in the air. Soon, the girls tried to match the timing of hitting the ball to each other to the rep timings called out by Iida. Niwa felt a little sorry for the lot out there sweating their skin off right beside the cool refreshing water of the pool.
"Ah! Just watching them and bouncing around like this is tiring…" Momo sighed when a slight breeze pretty much picked up the ball of air and blew it to the other side of the pool.
"Let's do some sunbathing then!" Mina cheered, already heading for the side of the pool. They all agreed, some nice warm sun and maybe a nap would feel really nice about now.
When the boys finally managed to finish their set and take a break, Niwa was already feeling pretty warm just laying here, it must be pretty disgusting being that hot and working out at the same time. Even if they were shirtless.
Too bad Kirishima and Bakugou weren't here. Niwa would have loved to see Explodo-pants without his shirt. His shoulders were stacked with muscle and his arms were ripped. She wondered just how good his abs were. Were they better than hers? Niwa pictured the image in her head for a moment but gave up after she couldn't quite imagine it.
Like her brain had summoned his arrival, Niwa heard Bakugou's loud as usual voice yell across the pool, "Of course!"
Niwa looked over and stared. Outwardly stared unblinkingly as Bakugou stormed over toward Midoriya like the blonde wanted to drown the green-haired boy. Kirishima, ever the peacekeeper, blocked Bakugou's path and apologized for being late.
"Niwa, what's wrong?" Mina asked innocently.
Niwa grinned not so innocently, "Enjoying the view."
"Eh? Oh! Oh my god, who? Who is it!?" Mina bounced around in her chair like an overly excited chihuahua.
"I'm not telling you first," Niwa replied sassily, sticking her tongue out and blowing raspberries to her fellow pink-haired girl. Mina pouted but quickly cheered up again when she heard Iida announce to the boys that they were going to have a race.
The girls all watched and Momo even decided to play ref as she created a simple silver whistle from the skin of her bare arm.
At the blow of her whistle, Niwa laughed. Each and every boy who could cheat, cheated the race. Using their quirks to get them across the finish line the fastest. There were actually a few who completely cleared the pool without ever dropping into the water or even actually swimming.
The winners of the three races were the troublesome trio of Bakugou, Todoroki, and Midoriya.
Niwa scoffed. A swimming race didn't count if you didn't actually swim.
When the three victors all lined up on the diving boards, Niwa noticed a shadowy figure lingering on the outskirts of the cheering children. She grinned when her teacher quietly leveled her with a red-eyed gaze, her body feeling slightly weaker than it normally should before his gaze shifted. Niwa watched each of the three boys jump. It was pure comedy. Todoroki landed feet first like he was trying to surf with his bare feet. Bakugou jumped out with his hands behind his body and a face full of surprise when he plummeted into the water at the same time as the two other boys. Midoriya, Niwa snickered, she could hear that bellyflop from where she was.
Her entire body shook with the effort it took to hold back her giggling snorts and she choked on her own breath in the process. Mina slapped at Niwa's back while she was pretty much in the same boat with her own giggles.
The class dispersed after getting changed and headed home with one more glare of her teacher's half-lidded eyes.
"See ya later!" Niwa grinned at her remaining classmates and ran to walk with her favorite boys.
She fell into step at Bakugou's left side while Kirishima strolled along on his left.
Bakugou took a quick few steps and booted away a rock on the path, "Damn it!" sending the thing clocking along the concrete. "Stopping the race like that!"
"I know how you feel, but calm down." Kirishima said with a small grin, "Midoriya and Todoroki are classmates – and friends – right?"
Bakugou turned to Kirishima, "Shuddup!" the boy yelled before continuing along and not bothering to look at either friend at his side. "No matter who it is, I won't let them catch up to me, let alone get ahead of me!"
Niwa smiled despite feeling slightly annoyed by the blonde's words.
"Isn't that what it means to be better than All Might – to be better than the Number One hero?"
Kirishima stared at Bakugou for a second before smiling and carrying on as they usually did.
Today, Niwa was riding on a high of positive energy or some shit. It was a weird feeling. Like she couldn't do anything wrong. Or rather, if she did do something then she was confident she could fix it herself.
"If you had agreed to come sooner, we could have had more time in the pool," Kirishima whined.
"Shut up, they weren't even swimming." Bakugou countered.
"Eh? How would you know?" Kirishima asked in surprise.
"None of them were wet or smelt like chlorine," Bakugou argued, as observant as ever.
"He's right, the girls spent most of the time in the pool while the boys were there for endurance training." Niwa chuckled. "Idiots."
"It would have been nice to get some more training in," Kirishima said, his eyes trailing the orange sunset blanket across the sky.
"It would have been nice to fucking relax," Bakugou muttered.
"You should have joined us girls then, though I'm not sure if you'll be able to handle the girl chatter we have," Niwa taunted.
"Huh? I can handle any bullshit, who gives a fuck what you bitches are talking about?"
Kirishima chuckled at Bakugou's horrible language and Niwa agreed, Bakugou's potty mouth was a lost cause. Kirishima pondered his thoughts for a bit and looked across from Bakugou to Niwa, "What do you girls talk about, anyway?"
"Girl things," Niwa replied immediately.
"Yeah, but, like what?" The redhead insisted.
Niwa rose a brow and leaned forward, looking past a pretending-to-not-be-interested-Bakugou and across to Kirishima, "You really want to know?"
"Y-Yeah?" Kirishima chuckled nervously.
"Okay." Niwa shrugged, "We pretty much talk about exactly what you think we would. Each other's style, the new café that just opened by the mall, what we're gonna do if we get our period on the training camp, things we notice during class, tips to help each other out, our type when it comes to guys, who the hottest guy in class is, if we have or have ever had a crush before. Those kinds of things."
Niwa glanced over to the boys who had been silent the entire time and grinned at their reactions. Kirishima's face was the same color as his hair and Bakugou refused to look in her direction, head turned away and gaze fixed far in the distance.
Ha, boys.
Her heart fluttered and it was impossible to take the soft smile from her face. And even though she felt so at ease with her two friends, Niwa still felt a small weight of regret every moment she spent with the blonde. It was odd, feeling regret for something she hadn't done or for something she wouldn't do.
But then again, why was she holding on to this? Why not just tell him? Who the hell cared about shit like opinions or rejection? Midoriya was confronted by the leader of the League of Villains only a few days ago. They didn't have the time or freedom to be careless with their thoughts and actions. Every minute was precious. Because, more than anyone else, Niwa understood that some things could be taken away easily.
With this thought in mind, Niwa solidified her nerves, begged her heart to settle, and reminded herself that she was Resolute, a student of U.A and a future hero.
"Bakugou," Niwa addressed the boy after a few minutes of walking silently as the boys mulled over her girl-talk topics in their head.
"What?" The blonde growled in a mumble.
"I like you, by the way."
Both boys froze and Niwa carried on for a few more steps before twisting on her foot and facing the shellshocked pair. Kirishima's eyes darted between them, not knowing what was more surprising, Niwa's words or the adorably embarrassed expression on Bakugou's red face.
"Sorry, but it was distracting and honestly annoying having to go around pretending shit and hiding it. It was getting in the way of class, and hero work comes first for me." Niwa grinned, "But, I really like you, Bakugou."
Niwa twisted on her foot once again and continued on.
"What the hell were you hoping I'd say to something like that?" Bakugou's voice growled loudly.
Niwa didn't need to turn back to know he was probably glaring daggers at her. She thought for a moment and really considered the question. All she wanted for him to acknowledge her feelings, that was it.
"Hmm. How about, thank you?"
She carried on down the hill alone. Yeah, that would have been the best response Bakugou could give her, considering the boy was more likely to tell her to jump off a cliff than actually show gratitude even when the situation called for it.
Niwa strolled along, accompanied only by her thoughts on a warm evening. The sunset painted the sky with a beautiful mixture of red and orange fading into dark blue. The colors of the sky reflected stunningly on the distant ocean and the water glittered with the fading light of the sunset.
Niwa reached into her pocket, grabbed her cell phone and unlocked the screen. She opened the camera app and snapped a picture of the scenery. It was probably one of the best photos she had ever taken, though Niwa was no photographer.
A sudden idea popped into her head as she double-tapped her screen to flip the camera to face her, she aimed the camera past her head and focused further up the hill where her friends walked a fair distance behind her.
Click!
It wasn't a bad photo, Niwa smiled at the pair. Their figures were small, but it was clear to her who they were, the red and orange light from the sunset painted all colors around them like a water coloring of autumn even though it was still mid-summer.
She immediately saved the image as her home screen wallpaper.