NeonHorizon: A very special, slightly longer than usual chapter! Posted on the day season four starts! Hooray for FRIENDSHIP!

Shirayuki finished packing the little bags of cookies into her school bag and paused. She felt an anxious twisting in her stomach when she thought about confronting Shinsou, but it had to happen. Things had to change.

I…have to be brave. She drew her mask up to conceal the lower half of her face and bid her grandmother and the cats farewell. It was as she was walking out the door that the girl's little bit of bravery was obliterated.

Spotting the indigo-haired boy standing near the gate, she was so taken aback that she stumbled and nearly fell forward onto her face. Shirayuki caught herself and felt her face instantly heat with a blush. "…Sh-Shinsou…ah…um…"

He had a hand on the gate now, as if he had wanted to go to help, but stopped himself. Turning his head to the side, he looked off down the street. "Are you okay?" he inquired, acting almost as if he might also be embarrassed.

The girl nodded and made her way to the gate at a slow pace. It felt like a year since they last spoke. She opened the gate to get to the sidewalk and suddenly wished that she had made cookies for him as well. I didn't know he would be here. He doesn't look angry, but…he's not looking at me. Why?

"Ready to go?" Shinsou was still looking off down the street.

She nodded, but then realized that he was unable to see it. "…y-yes…"

The atmosphere around them was incredibly tense. It felt like they both had something that they wanted to say, but neither wanted to go first because they were afraid. Shirayuki would glance over at Shinsou in hopes of summoning forth enough courage to speak, but when she saw him swiftly looking away from her, her bravery faltered.

Someone needed to speak first if anything was going to happen. Unfortunately, they seemed to be stuck in this silent stand-off. The girl absently fidgeted with her mask, tugging it up a bit more when it began to slip.

"Is that a new mask?" Shinsou finally turned his head in her direction and focused his tired gaze upon the design.

"…yes…my grandmother…made me some new ones…" The mask was pink with butterflies printed on it in different colors. She had wanted to wear her favorite mask, but it had been taken by Bakugou the night before. My favorite mask…and I had to explain to my grandmother why it was gone.

"It's nice," he commented, a very faint pinkish hue rising to his face. So subtle that it would have easily gone unnoticed by anyone else.

The two boarded the train and Shirayuki stood beside him. She left some space between them since he was still acting sort of distant. Almost like he was reluctant to be there. The thought of that made her bite the inside of her cheek.

Bowing her head, she tried to draw forth some courage again. She remembered when she screamed all of her anger and sadness in the forest and that memory gave her a bit of power. It had felt so exhilarating to just release those emotions. Now she was able to recapture just a hint of that sensation and she nodded to herself.

"…Shinsou…are you…mad at me…?"

The boy blinked in alarm and frowned. He saw her lift her eyes and for an instant indigo met crimson. Shinsou rubbed the back of his neck and shook his head, letting his eyes slide closed during the gesture. "Of course not."

"…you haven't spoken to me…you haven't…replied…to my messages…you've been avoiding me so…I thought…I-I thought you were mad and…" She could feel the tears forming in her eyes. Her vision blurred, eyes burning slightly as she lifted a trembling hand to rub at her right eye.

To her surprise, an arm wrapped around her. A hand pressed at her back, pushing her against him, and Shirayuki's tears dotted the front of his blazer. "…Sh-Shinsou…?"

He was silent for a moment as he simply held her. When he finally spoke, there was a hint of pain in his voice. "I don't think I could ever get mad at you," he confessed. "I was…distracted by something. I should've considered your feelings and just told you what it was, but I wasn't thinking. I'm sorry."

Her heart skipped a beat and she stepped back, forcing herself to tilt her head so she could look up at him. "…distracted…by what…?"

Shinsou considered his reply for a moment and frowned guiltily. "I thought I was ready to talk about this, but I'm not. I'm sorry. Look, I'm not mad at you. Shirayuki, you're…" He hesitated and turned his head to the side again. "You're really important to me. And I hate seeing you cry."

The two teenagers stayed this way for a most of the train ride and when they had to part ways, it was with reluctance. Shirayuki went on her way to class and felt anxiety twisting in her stomach again. She had wanted to tell him how upset she was. How she wished he would have just talked to her instead of closing her out and avoiding her.

He won't tell me what's wrong. Does he…not trust me? The girl pondered this as she entered the lunch room with her friends. She sat at their table with them, and the bags of cookies were distributed. "…this is…for yesterday…for trying to cheer me up…um…they're just butter cookies, but…I thought…"

Kaminari wasted no time in tearing open his bag and helping himself to a few cookies. "Whoa! These are better than your grandma's cookies!"

"What the hell? Why'd her grandma make you cookies?!" Bakugou demanded. He had taken the seat on Shirayuki's right before anyone else could and glared at Kaminari when it was suggested that he move.

On Shirayuki's left was Kirishima, who took a bite of a cookie and grinned. "These are awesome, Yuki-chan! You made these yourself?"

The compliment made her a little more flustered than usual, after having read his note, confessing his feelings. When their eyes briefly met, the girl quickly looked away and found herself blushing bright pink. "…y-yes…I made them…"

"You're the best, Yuki-chan!"

"She only made extras so you idiots wouldn't whine when I got some," the boy on her right grumbled. With that said, he gave her an expectant glare and held out his hand. When she hesitated, his glare intensified.

I didn't make any for him…Shirayuki stared down at his hand and reached a trembling hand to her pocket. She usually kept at least a few small candies on her in case of a blood sugar crash. They would have to do as an offering. The girl's pale fingers drew forth a few mint lavender candies and she deposited them into his open palm, her head bowed.

"Oh, wow! Bakugou, you're pretty lucky. Those are from her private stash," Kirishima remarked with a grin.

"Whatever. Next time I expect something better than cookies, got it, Ume?" He seemed to ponder it for a moment and then smirked. "Make me a bento for tomorrow."

The next day was, in fact, the sports festival. A day she was dreading due in part to the fact that most of Japan would be watching, but mostly because her mother would be there. So, in her distraction over the fear, she simply nodded without thinking. It was only when the others acted surprised that she noticed.

The rest of the day, she was distraught over thoughts of her mother attending the sports festival. The memory of what her mother had said, what she did, were still vivid in her mind. It made her lift a hand to subconsciously touch the still healing bruise on her cheek. Ashido had helped her how to put makeup over it again, but it still felt like everyone knew.

Mother. No…she's not a mother. Hikari-san. She's going to be at the festival. I don't want to see her. I don't want her to talk to me. Grandma won't be there though. She can't stop Hikari-san from approaching me. What am I going to do?

Shirayuki was walking down the hallway after class, separate from her friends since she planned to meet with Shinsou to walk home. Kirishima, being the sweet and wonderful friend that he was, had taken Bakugou off in a completely different direction to keep him distracted. She had her head down, fingers nervously fidgeting with her bag as she neared the entrance. It really felt like a hopeless situation when she thought more on it. She was too afraid to approach her teacher about the subject, even if he might be able to do something to keep Hikari away from her. It was embarrassing to hide from her own mother.

A voice called behind her as she stepped outside, but went unnoticed. She continued walking at a slow pace without thinking about it. She needed to reach the gate before Bakugou could realize he was being distracted on purpose and look for her. Shinsou would know where she was though. Again, that voice called from behind and it was followed by rapid footsteps this time.

Again, the voice went unnoticed as dread swirled in her mind. It was only when her shoulder was gently grabbed that she noticed and it made her jolt. Shirayuki trembled as she looked up at the boy standing in front of her now.

He was tall. Muscled. Blond. Wearing a smile that was friendly in the most nonthreatening way one could imagine. A hero's smile. He actually sort of reminded her of All Might and it made the girl tilt her head slightly.

"Hi! You're a first year, right? What's your name? What class are you in?" Even his voice sounded cheerful, warm. Friendlier than most. Almost like an excitable dog wagging its tail and barking at a potential new friend.

She stared at him in a bit of a daze and finally summoned forth her voice. "…Sh-Shirayuki Ume…class 1-A…" Her voice was quieter than usual, her face turning red from the embarrassment of speaking to a stranger in front of various other strangers. He was definitely drawing attention to her and it made her stomach hurt with nervousness.

"Togata Mirio. I'm a third year." His smile grew a little. "You're pretty shy, huh? But you're training to become a hero! That's awesome! I'm sure you're going to be great!"

"…th-thank you…Togata-san…" Shirayuki was still really confused as to why this weirdly nice stranger had approached her out of nowhere. Have we met before? I don't know…if I've seen him before. Blond hair and blue eyes aren't that common, but…

"Hey, Tamaki! Come over here; she won't bite!"

She realized that he was calling to someone behind her and turned. Walking at a hesitant pace was another boy that was taller than her and definitely not a first year student. He had his head down, hands in his pockets as he approached with caution. Who…?

When he reached them, he was visibly shaking. This boy looked every bit as nervous as she felt and when he lifted his gaze from the ground, his dark indigo eyes were narrowed as if he was angry. His mouth was twisted into an anxious sort of frown as he more or less glared. The boy's hair was longer in the front and shorter in the back, a dark indigo hue like his eyes. His ears were what drew and held her attention when his glare became too scary to meet. His pointed, long ears that resembled those of a fairy or elf from her old folklore books.

"Tamaki, this is Shirayuki Ume. She's in class 1-A. Shirayuki, this is Amajiki Tamaki. He's a third year like I am. Okay! Friendship! Go!"

What? Shirayuki blinked, a little alarmed by that last part of what he said. She looked at the dark-haired boy and realized that he did not seem like he would actually speak first. Still puzzled, but remembering the manners her grandmother had taught her, she bowed. "…it's…it's very nice to meet you…Amajiki-san…"

He blinked as well when she spoke and gave the tiniest of bows. He glanced over at Togata, almost as if looking for reassurance, and then back to Shirayuki. "Y-yeah…nice to meet you…"

This whole time Togata had been smiling, but now it faded. A hand rested on Amajiki's right shoulder and Shirayuki's left shoulder. Togata shook his head, frowning. "Come on now! You have to try better than that!"

"I can't…it's too difficult…I keep trying to picture something else, but…"

"Okay, I'll start then! Tamaki really likes your mask, Shirayuki. Those are monarch butterflies, right? Where'd you get it?"

My mask…? She subconsciously reached up to her mask and flushed pink behind it. "…ah…um…m-my grandmother made it…she makes all of my masks…"

Togata smiled warmly, clearly pleased. "That's sweet! So you must really like monarch butterflies, right?"

"Th-they're not…" Amajiki paused, his frown growing deeper. It quickly became apparent that Togata was trying to ease him into a conversation he was comfortable with. "They're not all monarchs."

"Huh? Wait, so what are they?"

Shirayuki's own knowledge of butterflies was less than impressive, but she listened to him name off the various types that her grandmother had embroidered on her mask. It was clearly something that he liked and he seemed much more comfortable talking about butterflies than casual small talk. We're…similar. He's like me. He doesn't know what to say and…we're both still shaking.

"Oh! Tamaki, we've got to go; it's getting late," Togata reluctantly interrupted. "We work with some hero agencies so-"

"Um…Sh-Shirayuki…your father was Calorie Bomb…right?" Amajiki saw her nod and he nodded back. "Okay…I just…wanted to be sure."

"See you around, Shirayuki! Let's be friends, okay?"

She waved as they left and tilted her head. Friends…with third years?