Shirayuki peeked out of her bedroom curiously, watching her cousin's daughter. The little girl was still wearing her beanie with little cats on it and looked like she had just woken up. I want to say good morning, but…
Large red eyes fixed on Shirayuki and the little girl turned to cautiously start toward her door. "Ume…?" she called, hugging the chubby cat that she was carrying in her arms.
"…it's…Emi-chan…right…?" She pushed her door open more and tilted her head a little. The younger girl stared for a second before nodding. "…um…is Grandma awake yet…?"
"Grandma?" She looked over her shoulder and then turned back to Shirayuki, shaking her head.
"…okay…um…do you…want to come in…?" Shirayuki let her in and watched her immediately turn to stare at the collection of stuffed animals on the bed. "…I'm just…getting ready to go out…if you want to h-hang out for a while…"
She turned her attention back to her dresser and frowned behind the simple white mask she was wearing. I don't know what to wear. I'm…hanging out with third year students. They're mature. I want to…look mature. I just don't know…Shirayuki settled on a pair of long pale gray shorts, a dark blue tank top, and a pale blue zip-up shirt with a hood and short sleeves.
When she came back from the bathroom, she found Sayuri's daughter examining the large dragon plushie on the bed. "…that's a dragon…um…do you like dragons, Emi-chan…?"
The pale-haired girl frowned a little. "Dragon," she repeated, testing the word. "I haven't seen one before, but…I like it."
Shirayuki turned away to change out her white mask for a black one. She moved over to the mirror to check her outfit and, as she was securing her mask, she saw the little girl's eyes widen. Her expression turned to fear and she curled up in the corner, trembling. "…Emi-chan…wh-what is it…?"
"Y-your mask…"
"…my mask…?" She frowned, but took it off. She was okay with my white mask and the one from yesterday. Shirayuki picked up a pale blue one with butterflies on it and turned toward the girl. "…um…what about this one…?"
The child nodded, sniffling. "That's…not as scary."
When Shirayuki heard her grandmother's bedroom door open, she felt relieved. I'm…not good at babysitting. I scared her. My mask scared her. Does it scare other people? Does anyone in my class…think I'm scary because I wear masks? She had never thought she looked scary in a mask, but now it was all she could think about. What if…I stand out more in the mask then when I don't wear one? I don't want people to be afraid of me…I'm trying to become a hero.
Her grandmother greeted them both as they entered the kitchen. She made breakfast for Sayuri's daughter and herself, but seemed disappointed when Shirayuki turned down the offer of food. "You need to eat something, Ume."
"…I-I'll be fine…I'll eat something while I'm out…I just…I still need to feed the cats so…" She excused herself to the sitting room and started filling all seven cat bowls, but her thoughts were still on her mask. It hurt to see how terrified the little girl became when she put on the black mask.
It was difficult to not feel guilty. Despite not knowing why it was so scary to the younger girl, Shirayuki still wished she could make everything right. She wished she could just go back in time and stop herself from putting that mask on. It felt like every time the little girl glanced over at her, she was still a little bit scared.
She felt a rush of bubbly, excited, nervous energy when her phone chimed with a simple two-word message from her upperclassman. Feeling increasingly self-conscious, she made her way to the door to go outside. When she opened the door, she was met with the sight of Amajiki waiting nervously on the other side of the gate.
Shirayuki had never seen him in anything other than the school uniform or his hero costume so she was a little thrown off. He was wearing long shorts and a t-shirt, with a hooded zip-up shirt over it that had short sleeves. A reddish tint was spreading across his face as he lifted his eyes to look at her. She saw him quickly look down again and start to fidget with the zipper on his shirt.
"…c-cute…" She quickly put a hand over her mask, over her mouth, and felt her own face turning red. I…I said that out loud?! He probably thinks I'm weird. I said…something like that. I've never blurted out something like that, but…seeing him standing there…like this…cute…
His dark indigo eyes widened for a second before his own blush intensified. "G-good morning," he stammered, his gaze turning intense just before he lowered it to the ground. "Um…Mirio and Nejire…they said they'd meet us at a c-café so…"
"…a-alright…um…" Shirayuki hurried over, but she was even more self-conscious now. The fact that he had failed to mention her outburst could be good or bad. He might not have taken her seriously or he might be trying to think of ways to politely tell her that he was put off by it. She had never blurted out something so blunt before and she was already fearing the worst.
As she neared the gate, the door opened behind her. "Let me know when you'll be coming home, alright?" the old woman spoke up.
"…a-alright…I'll call you when I know…"
"Have a good date!" the little girl called to her.
Shirayuki stumbled and nearly fell on her face as it turned a bright, almost cherry shade of red. Her pulse was beating so loudly that it sounded muffled when her grandmother gently corrected the girl. "…I-I'm sorry…" She bowed her head as she slipped out of the gate and joined Amajiki on the sidewalk.
"It's…it's fine," he assured her. "The café is k-kind of close. Mirio picked it out. I'm sorry. I-I kind of sprang this on you out of the blue last night. I'm really…I'm not good at making plans. I don't usually ask people to go anywhere."
"…it's okay…" They started off down the sidewalk; both walking with their heads down, both frowning, both falling deep into thought. If my mask is scary…I shouldn't have one with my hero costume. I don't want to scare civilians. But…can I handle having my face uncovered? If they see my mouth, is that weirder than a mask? I don't know what to do.
They neared the busy section of the neighborhood and Amajiki wordlessly reached over to take her hand. He glanced over at her, his expression intense, before he stared straight ahead through his long bangs. "It's…not too much farther," he said, seeing the way her eyebrows furrowed in worry.
The warmth of his hand holding hers made her heart race faster, but for a different reason. Not from the fear of the crowd or the worry that someone was looking at her. He…said that he likes me. But he didn't tell me, she remembered. Bright crimson eyes lifted from the ground and moved to the side, taking in the tense expression on his face. The pink tint on his cheeks and at the tip of his ears.
A hand gripped her shoulder and Shirayuki released a squeak of surprise. She turned her head quickly and saw a strange boy that looked a little older than her grinning down at her. "…um…d-do you need something…?"
"You're pretty cute. You wanna get some tea with me and hang out? I bet you look even cuter without that mask," the stranger spoke. He saw her face go red and smirked. "Awww, come on! You know you wanna! It'll be my treat! Huh?"
Amajiki's hand released hers and an arm slipped around the girl's waist to pull her back from the stranger. An intense glare was directed at the young man and actually scared him into taking a few steps back. "She isn't interested."
The young man held up his hands, sweating and grinning nervously. "Okay, okay! I didn't realize she was taken! My bad, dude!"
Her upperclassman kept his hold on her until the stranger disappeared back into the crowd of people, but he was shaking a little. Amajiki finally loosened his hold and lowered his head. "S-sorry. I should've stopped him before he touched you. Maybe…maybe we should stay closer together."
"…o-okay…" Shirayuki knew her face had to be a fluorescent pink behind her mask. Especially when they walked into the café and Mirio greeted them both with a grin. She was happy to see him and Nejire, but her stomach was still doing flips from the way that Amajiki had protected her.
He let her slide into the booth first so she was sitting across from Nejire and he sat next to her. The dark-haired boy kept his head lowered and nervously fidgeted with the paper straw in the water glass that was in front of him. "Sorry…we ran into some trouble on the way here and…I-I wasn't sure what to do."
"What?! What happened?" Mirio leaned toward him from across the table.
Shirayuki slouched in her seat a little, feeling bad that Amajiki needed to defend her. I should have stood up for myself, but…I was scared. How can I be a hero if I get scared just by someone touching my shoulder? She was only half-listening as Amjiki explained what happened and jolted when her phone chimed.
Is it Grandma? Wait. Sayuri-chan wanted me to protect her daughter. Grandma's quirk…is just a healing quirk. And I left them alone! What if-?! She pulled her phone out of her pocket and felt a flicker of relief before her stomach twisted into knots. Bakugou-kun?
"That must've been kind of scary, right, Yuki?"
She shook out of her thoughts and pushed her phone into her pocket again. Lifting her gaze, she looked over at Mirio. "…y-yes, but Tamaki was…really brave…"
Nejire beamed across at the two timid teenagers. "You look so cute together. And you're almost matching today!"
"Right? It's like they're on the same wave-length!" Mirio agreed. He leaned his chin in his hand, grinning. "You have to admit you two go together pretty well. You bring out each other's strength, right? I bet Fat Gum sees it, too."
Bring out each other's strength? Shirayuki knew that Amajiki pushed himself to be braver when she needed help, but she slouched a little when she realized that she had never done something brave to help him. "…T-Tamaki is…just able to do that, though…he doesn't need me for it…and he's s-strong on his own…"
A fingertip tapped against the girl's forehead and made her jump a little. Looking up, she saw Mirio's sunny smile and it made her tilt her head. "…huh…?"
"I bet I know what you're thinking, Yuki. You think you're not doing anything for him, but he's doing stuff for you, right?"
Her eyes widened. "…h-how did you know that…a double quirk with mindreading…or….?"
"Nope! Look, you might not even realize it, but you are pushing yourself. I've seen it myself and I've heard about it from Tamaki. A big example is when you stopped that truck during your internship. You had Tamaki there to support you, right? So you pushed yourself and your quirk more than usual. Tamaki thought it was really amazing!" Across from Mirio, Amajiki's face was turning a vibrant red and he was covering his face with a hand. "And there are other examples, too! Going out for food with us that one time, pushing yourself to go to Fat Gum's agency even after your internship, and even right now! I bet you were nervous about meeting up today, right? But you're here because you pushed yourself because you know Tamaki's here to support you! I think it's great!"
"Right? They're great for each together!" Nejire agreed.
"I know! It's the perfect ship!" Mirio's grin grew and he gave them both a thumbs up. "Friendship!"
"F-friendship?" Amajiki finally looked up from his straw.
"Well…" Mirio and Nejire exchanged a glance. The girl beamed and the blond boy rubbed the back of his neck, smiling. "If you want me to be honest, I'd support you guys if you were more than friends. I mean, you two click really well, right? I didn't want to push anything, but I kind of ship you guys as more than friends."
"…m-more than…friends…?" Shirayuki looked across at the other two and felt more self-conscious than before. She fidgeted with the napkin in front of her; folding little pleats in it and biting her lip behind her mask. Locks of dark violet hair fell forward around her face, brushing against her red cheeks.
"Mirio…now isn't a good time for this. I can't…I can't handle this right now, okay? Can we t-talk about something else?" The dark-haired boy was giving him an intense, anxious look as he started to shake a little.
His friend frowned. "What about Yuki? What if she wanted to talk about it?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Just…just not right now. Please." Amajiki lowered his eyes to the glass in front of him, his shoulders hunching.
"Okay! Let's talk about a vacation plan! I think we should go to the beach!" Nejire spoke up. "What do you think, Yuki? We can rent hotel rooms near the ocean and stay overnight and eat all kinds of yummy food and we can collect seashells!"
"…the ocean…um…I've never…seen the ocean…" she confessed, her heart beating faster at the idea. That sounds like something my father would have planned. It…sounds like a lot of fun. And Togata-senpai is right; I want to push myself and…knowing that Tamaki is here…makes me want to be braver.
"We should go…if you're never seen the ocean," Amajiki agreed. "But just thinking about being around a lot of people…makes my stomach twist in knots. I don't know how long I can be around a crowd, but I'll try."
Mirio's grin came back full-force. "Alright! The ocean it is! Now we just have to find a hotel and stuff. This is going to be awesome!"