After nearly two weeks of rough class 'projects' and 'tests', and too many apology-filled cancellations - the day of our note-sharing session had finally come.
I almost didn't think it would ever happen. And I don't mean to be pessimistic, but I feel like it could get cancelled any second now. Another cancellation would be a problem though - since I gave my notebook to Mina over the weekend, so she wouldn't be too far behind when we started sharing notes. If this one is cancelled too, I won't be able to study my notes until the day of the test. Which, I'm pretty sure I can pass without them - but a review always helps to make sure.
'Slacking off once will only lead to slacking off twice'... a saying, I'm embarrassed to say, that I learned from Mineta.

I pick up my phone and reconfirm the address. We were individually sent the name and address of the restaurant via text, rather than receiving it through the group chat - only because Toru's over her data limit for the month. From what Jiro told me, the place is kind of fancy. You have to dress a little fashionably, or at least 'casually chic', in order to not get any glares in the place. It sounds kind of stiff to be called 'chill', but everyone has their own interpretation of a relaxed atmosphere.
While I don't normally enjoy dressing up fancy just to go out, this was a rare occasion - so I sucked it up and rummaged through my stuff for an outfit. Rare as the occasion, I oddly had a little fun this time looking for something 'casually chic' that suited me.
What I ended up with wasn't much, but it's a lot more than I'd normally bother to put together: A light, loose fabric, teal v-neck shortsleeve - with some English sentences, in cursive, dyed faintly white over the trim, curving from the left-front and leading to the spine. I'm not sure what it says, but English always looks 'chic'. Blue, barely-flared bell-bottom jeans with a thin, built-in wallet chain hanging off one of its belt buckles and tucking itself inside the left pocket. Basic black pumps that look a little too close to boots in their shape, but lacking the laces to match it. A large, wear-over, lighter-brown belt hanging diagonally atop my waist and touching its end at my upper-thigh. And a thin, gold necklace that I found around my house a few days ago - which no one claimed to be theirs. Even though I'm sure it's one of mom's old necklaces, I decided to wear it. It looks nice with my outfit. Nothing was done with my hair outside the usual, and I'm not going to wear any make-up. I cared to dress up this time around, but not enough to fake my 'appeal'. The only thing left to fancify is...
I look at my hands, mainly at my wrists. On most outings, I'm either wearing longsleeves, gloves, or some kind of wristband.
While most people don't notice it, I do wear those things on purpose. I'm overly-aware of the fact that my hands are big in comparison to my arms. By covering my wrists in some way, it takes people's eyes off of that disproportion. I know my big eyes, tendency-to-hunch posture, and long tongue stick out more in people's perceptions of me... but it's my abnormally large hands that I'm embarrassed over. Girls are supposed to have small hands. They can be big, tall, and muscular - but their hands and feet are always smaller than a guy at their size. I don't know why I'm so self-conscious of it, but I am. My hands are just what makes me feel out of place around others. And I can't get around that yet. And I can't get around that now... Without a wristband or glove, they're really going to stick out. Maybe I should wear a longsleeve underneath this.

My phone starts ringing. It's Mina.

"You're still coming, right Tsuyu?" she asks through the speaker before I could even answer, "I'm in a ride with Toru and Momo, and we're close to the restaurant. We're going to pick up some stuff here first, but right afterwards we're going to head in."

"Yes, I'm coming. Am I late?" I know I'm not late... but they're there awfully early.

"Nah. We just went ahead of everyone else. You should head over soon, though, so we can look through the menu before anyone gets here!"

That's a good idea. I wasn't planning on getting anything more than a drink when I arrived, but maybe this restaurant looks down on small purchases like that. Studying the menu before I have to be rushed would save me a lot of trouble. "I'll head out now, then. Should I call before I go in, or will I see you once I arrive?"

There's a pause in her response. It sounds like she's confirming with Momo. "Just go in the restaurant! Our table's reserved under 'Jiro'. The waiter will lead you right to it."

"Reserved, huh?" The place is fancier than I thought. "Do I need to tell them how many is in our party? There could be more than one 'Jiro' reserving."

"The place is practically empty on these days. Just tell them 'Jiro'. No need to be so nervous about it."

"I'm not nervous. I'm just being caref-"

"Oh, oh, sorry - I have to go. Toru, wait up!" she cut in before she cut off.

My phone chimed and blacked out. I guess I'll settle with what they told me. I've never been to a restaurant that reserved seats for anyone, outside of class trips to restaurants, so this will be new for me. But it shouldn't be too hard to do, right?

I suppose I am a little nervous.

The restaurant's name looks like the words on my shirt. As in - in English, and in cursive. I can't read it. According to the text, it should be at this address, and it's pronounced something like 'Geta-We-I', with the last syllables making the English 'A' sound together. The word sounds familiar, but I think I've only heard it in those American Action movies. Usually has to do something with cars. Maybe it's a car-themed restaurant.
I walk in and can confirm that it has nothing to do with cars. This place looks fancy. Too fancy. French fancy. I'm not sure if I'll be able to afford anything more than tea here. If they even have tea here. I begin sweating... What if the menu is in English? And in cursive? I hope the waiters are Japanese!
A look at the counter sweeps a lot of my nervous energy away. The waiter is obviously Japanese, and the 'lunch special' is written in Japanese. It doesn't have the price written on it, but at least it's Japanese. But now another worry runs over me... How Western is this place? Do I have to tip? How do you tip? Maybe I should look it up on my phone before I go any further.
As I'm stepping away from the entrance to check my phone, I notice a familiar face nearby... also looking at his phone. At the corner I was approaching, Midoriya Izuku is sweating ridiculously with a twitching smile. His attempt at looking casual is failing horribly. Though I feel bad, seeing him like this really puts me at ease. I'm nervous about this too - but nowhere near as nervous as he is.

"Midoriya." I call to him.

"Yessu, ma-am!" he nearly squeals in forced English. After he realizes it's me, he gives a heavy sigh of relief. "Asui!"

"Call me Tsuyu." You think I would get tired of saying that now, but it's kind of a fun greeting between the two of us. "Are you worried about if we need to tip?"

"H-Huh? How did you know?"

"I was worried about it too. But..." I look over at the waiter behind the counter. He's not looking at us, but his posture is showing that he's obviously uncomfortable with our crowding of the entrance. "We should probably head to the table, before we inconvenience anyone."

"You're right. You're right." he says with a shaky laugh. "I think I got a hang of how to tip, at least. And I have an app that translates English text. But I'm not really good at conversing with English yet."

"I'm pretty sure they speak Japanese here, Midoriya." I say that confidently now, but I was worrying over it not too many minutes ago. I lead the way to the counter, trying to keep myself from slouching, and greet the waiter. "We have a table reserved under 'Jiro'." I wanted to add that we're a party of twelve, but maybe keeping it simple will make this easier.

The waiter looks down at his notepad and scans through its names. Reservations written down rather than typed in... this place isn't just fancy, it's kind of uppity. His eyes lock to a line before looking up at us. "Right this way."

We follow him down a mixed row of booth-like tables-for-six and cafe-style tables-for-two. Everything here is definitely Western themed - what with the decorative, curling carvings embedded in the tables and chairs. It's not enough to tell me their price range, but I can at least be confident that this isn't going to be cheap. I hope I brought enough.
Like Mina had told me before: this place is empty - which makes me think I definitely didn't bring enough. Places like this are only empty during this time of day because its usual customers are only willing to pay its prices for nice dinners. This is going to be a problem.
Midoriya is muttering incoherent things beside me. If I listen closely enough, it sounds like he's voicing the very same worries that I was thinking. Except he's doing it in a creepy way that's making even our waiter uncomfortable.

The waiter finally leads us to a small booth. Definitely too small for a party of twelve, but there's no tables here large enough for a party that big. I'm guessing we're just going to be sharing booths and tables near enough to pass our notes around comfortably. The tables are spaced closer to each other than I'd expect from a rich place, but it's probably why we picked this place out. Looking the place over with a bit more relief in my chest, I'm confident that we can do some solid studying and fun socializing here.

Midoriya and I sit in the same booth, rather than pick our own, so as to not weird the waiter out. I'm sure he thinks we're a couple - since that's the easiest assumption to go with - but that thought will soon disappear once our other studymates flood in.
Speaking of which...

"I wonder where everyone is." Midoriya voices my concern before I could look at my phone.

"Mina, Toru, and Momo will be here soon. They're checking out the stores around the plaza before they come in." At least... that's what they told me. Unlocking my phone, I notice that it's about a minute away from our scheduled study time. I haven't received any texts or calls since the one I got this morning. But none of this should be too worrying. This restaurant was kind of out of the way from our usual routes, so it's expected for people to be arriving later than usual.
My eyes look up at Midoriya, who's also checking through his phone. The wait may be expected, but it will definitely be awkward for the both of us until they arrive. Midoriya and I talk in class, but usually with others around. I don't think we've ever been alone together. Not that I feel uneasy around him... Or maybe I do. I don't really know how to have a casual conversation with a boy. But his interests are simple enough that we could at least talk about things for a few minutes... Or we could just start talking about class. That's tame enough.

"Huh?" Midoriya's face is showing obvious puzzlement. "Mineta just sent me a text."

"Oh?"

"He's asking us where we are... He's already sitting at the table."

I turn and look around the booth. No one's in view. All the tables around us are empty. There are sounds of quiet talking and utensils tapping at plates - but that's coming from around the corner, on the other side of the restaurant that we can't see from here. Wait... Does that mean we were led to the wrong table? Was there another 'Jiro' reserved here - and the waiter assumed we were the separate 'Jiro' because we didn't come in with a large group? I should've told the waiter our party size after all!

"Um... I have no idea what's going on." Midoriya laughs nervously and leans his phone towards me. The word 'TRAITOR' keeps being sent to him as a message in his conversation with Mineta. "Is his phone broken?"

Before I could respond, I get a text on my phone:

"Good luck! ^_~"

Oh no.

"E-Excuse me." I say and pretend to walk towards the entrance counter. Halfway there, I look around the corner of the restaurant - towards the side that was blocked from our view. There, I see a larger party of people, eating and socializing at a cluster of tables. They're sharing notes and showing things on their laptops. The only problem is... These are old men. Business men.

No one from Class 1-A or 1-B is in this restaurant.

I return to the 'Jiro' booth, with my shoulders slumped in defeat. Midoriya looks even more confused than before. He's responding to texts. A lot of them, from the looks of it. I place my arms on the table before planting my face into them.

"I keep getting encouraging texts from our classmates. I have no idea what's going on!" he repeats the last line with a half-laugh as he continues his texting spree.

"They set us up." I groan to him.

"Huh?"

"I said they set us up."

"What do you mean?"

"Midoriya... We're on a date right now."

His phone drops loudly onto the table. I bow in apology to the waiter, who's approaching us with a trying-calm look on his face.

"Your drinks and appetizer." the waiter says to us as he slides two glasses onto the table - one colorful and clear, and the other thickly dark with whipped cream on top. He then carefully places a plate of some kind of fried meat, surrounding a small bowl of a black-specked, white condiment.

I look up at Midoriya. He meets my eyes and whispers, "I didn't order this."

The waiter clearly overheard him. "These are from the orders you reserved online. Of course we didn't make them until you arrived, but rest assured that these are the ones you placed. If there are any concerns or changes you would like to make, please let me know."

"Um... How much do they cost?" Midoriya asks sheepishly. It's a really awkward question to ask, but a necessary one.

"You already paid for these when you made your order through the app. Not to worry, there are no hidden charges - and we don't expect tips from our customers. Though they are encouraged." With a bow, he excused himself from our table. "I'll return with the main course. For now, please enjoy."

"C-Can I have some chopsticks? Or a fork?"

"Of course, sir."

"I'd like a fork as well."

"Very well. I'll return shortly." The waiter turns and walks away briskly, quick to fulfill his customer's orders.

"I guess these are supposed to be finger foods." Midoriya says as he pokes at the appetizer plate. "I mean, I wouldn't mind using my hands, but I don't want to get our notes dirty."

"Oh, you brought your notes?"

He looks away with a slump of surrender. "No... Sero was holding onto them for me."

"Mina has mine." I tap at my chin. "I don't think this is coincidence."

"Y-Yeah..."

"They thought this through. Now I'm wondering if all those previous meetings were cancelled just so they could buy themselves more time."

"I wonder. Ha ha..."

We sit and stare at our twiddling fingers, unsure of what else to talk about. Midoriya, at least, seems very wary of discussing the matter directly. Ever since I said 'date', he hasn't locked eyes with me. It's understandable for a shy boy like him. But... I'm not locking eyes with him either.
Maybe his shyness is contagious. Or maybe I'm shy too. I know I don't have experience in talking with boys outside of a group - especially in a situation like this - but isn't it rude for me to just let this silence continue between us?
The waiter returns and places some silverware to our left-sides of the table. He does a quick bow and excuses himself once again.
We begin picking at the appetizer with our forks... less out of hunger, and more because it's something to do. We're at a restaurant, and the food is paid for: so we should eat. If we do at least what's necessary, then we're not wasting this moment, are we?
No, I'm just making excuses. I'm really nervous about all this. I mean... I haven't been alone with a boy my age before. And I definitely have never been on a date.

That last word just made my heart stop.

"Midoriya -" "Asui -" we interrupt each other.

I clear my throat. "Call me Tsuyu."

"Then... Tsuyu..."

My face is burning red. Why? I don't mind people calling me 'Tsuyu'. I prefer it that way. And Midoriya's a good friend, so I definitely don't mind him calling me that.
But in a situation like this - with the two of us alone - eating in a nice restaurant together... it sounds a lot more intimate than it should.

Why is this frazzling me? I just told him a while ago that I wouldn't mind dating him. And besides, this isn't a real date, right? We were both forced into this. In our eyes, we only agreed to this because it was a study session. So by intent: this is just a study session!
A study session with nothing to study... except each other.

I slap my cheeks hard. I can't lose myself in these kind of thoughts.

"You w-were saying?" Midoriya asks me. Now that I think about it, he never finished the sentence he was trying to say earlier. I force myself to look at him in the eye - and I find out why. His face is far more red than mine. And he looks like he has tears in his eyes. Him calling me by my given name at that time probably was more embarrassing for him than it was for me.

I find myself chuckling. "Are you okay?"

"Totally fine!" he says with a creak in his voice.

I chuckle even more. "We shouldn't force ourselves like this, Midoriya. We should just go along with this casually."

"G-Go with what?"

"You have to keep making me say it? We're... on a date." I mumbled that last part. But he heard it. Before we could end up in an awkward silence loop once again, I push myself to talk, "Being on a date shouldn't make us get so serious with each other. Dates exist so that two people can just get to know each other before taking things to the next step. Most times, people don't end up going to the next step. People date, and don't end up getting together. That's normal. We shouldn't feel like that's any different for us. Technically, all a date is, is just a way for people to hang out in a more personal setting. So we really shouldn't have to act any different than we do in class and class trips, right?"

"Right."

"Then let's just hang out and enjoy the moment. It'll be enough to satisfy the ones who set this up - and we get free food for participating in it."

Midoriya's shoulders loosen as he sighs, sounding - and looking - significantly relieved. "I'm really glad that this is with you, Tsuyu. You're absolutely right. This... date doesn't have to mean anything more than us hanging out together. You and I don't really get the chance to do that much in our classroom, so I'm glad we can do it now."

"That's the spirit, Midoriya."

"Should we dig in then?"

"Let's dig in!"

We must have spent a little over two hours in that restaurant. Eating, drinking, and talking about an assortment of things. I found out a little more about his history with Bakugo. He learned a bit more about my family. We talked over our hero-names, which heroes we looked up to when we were kids, our opinions on capes and poses, and what kind of non-hero life we'd like to live outside of our hero jobs.
The latter subject was the most intriguing for me, since Midoriya may be the first guy I've ever talked to/overheard that never mentioned being married or having kids in their non-hero-life. Not that he doesn't want them, but that he didn't have them as one of his points. Maybe it's because most men are trying to impress women with that sort of answer... but Midoriya's response is more in-line with what a kid would tell a parent than what a guy would tell a girl.
Not that I'm judging that against him - I didn't mention being married or having kids either. Does that make me childish or independent? I'm not sure.

After finishing our desserts and properly tipping the waiter - which took an embarrassingly long amount of time - we readied ourselves to our next destination.
Rather than calling it quits and doing the bare minimum of what was expected of us, Midoriya and I agreed that we should meet our matchmaker's challenge head-on. I texted Mina, "What else do you have planned for us?"
Unsurprisingly, they had another place reserved for us... two tickets to an amusement park. Not very original, but I won't turn down a fun day at the amusement park. Neither would Midoriya. We took the paid-for taxi service straight to one of the newer amusement parks across the city - known for its implementation of VR headsets to save up on property space.
We rode their only roller coaster, played around in their virtual bumper karts, took on a horde of zombies in their Hollywood-grade survival simulator, competed for a few DLC packs for games we didn't own in their shooting range, and ate a lot of cotton candy. Though, Midoriya really only had half, since he ended up throwing up a good amount of it... he got really motion sick from the VR. Ignoring that part, we had an absolute blast. I found myself laughing a lot louder and more openly with him than... with anyone I've met outside my family, really. I've never been on a date before, obviously. And I've never really hung out with friends quite like this before. So this was all really new to me.

I hope he doesn't think my laugh sounds silly... because it really does.

Before we left the park, we decided to go into one of those photo booths. I've been in a ton of these, but never with a guy before. I was curious as to how they play around with the poses. He's only done this once, and with a group of guys, so I had to show him how to set up the photos. But with their time limits, we had a lot of shots with one of us missing in them. I laughed a lot more here than I expected to. Normally with girls we do silly poses or attempted sultry ones. But Midoriya only had two kinds of poses: overly shy, or try-hard heroic. The latter had me cracking up.
"Oh, oh, this one's a good photo!" Midoriya slides one of the sticker-packs towards me. He and I are mimicking a pose from one of France's duo heroes - because we had accidentally chosen the Eiffel Tower as our background for that round of photos. The picture is really cheesy, but I suppose - in a way - we do look kind of cool in it.
My amusement with the set quickly vanishes, however. I yank the sticker away from the bench and attempt to toss it in the trash. Midoriya catches my arm midway. "Woah! Hey! What are you doing?" he barely shouts as he frantically reaches for the photos.

"This is a really bad photo set. I have to get rid of it."

"No way! We paid a lot for that one! And at least let me keep some of them!"

I stop struggling and hold the stickers still. "Which ones?"

He points. "That. That one. And that one."

"Not those!" I try throwing them away, but he ends up snatching it from my hands.

"What's wrong with them?" He pulls the photo close. "You look cool in these!"

"No I don't!" I'm trying to grab at it, but I can tell he's using his Quirk to dodge me at the last seconds. I could just grab it with my tongue, but that photo's still fresh from the print... and ink tastes awful.

Suddenly, Midoriya grabs both my hands by their wrists with one of his hands, and shows me the photo with the other. "Honestly, Tsuyu. What's wrong with these?" his voice is showing a more serious concern now. I may have ruined the mood by taking it this far...

"My wrists are showing..." I mumble in defeat.

"Huh?"

"My wrists are showing in the photos." I groan. I had completely forgotten that I wanted to put a longsleeve underneath my shirt this morning. Looking at the photos again makes me wince.

"So what if your wrists are showing?" Midoriya asks naively.

"My hands look freakishly huge in these photos."

"No they don't."

"Midoriya, they're the size of my head. And my arms look like twigs in comparison."

"They're not that big. And your arms aren't that small."

I grip my hands open and closed – repeatedly in his face. "Look at them. They're larger than your hands."

"So?"

"Maybe you've gotten used to them because you see me in class all the time, but what was your first impression of my hands?"

"That they suit you?"

"Eh? My tiny body, with these huge hands, suits me?"

"Tsuyu, they look fine on you."

I break his hold on my wrists and plant my palms against his. My fingers are wider than his, longer too. My palms stretch over his. I can't see his hands at all from this angle. Meanwhile, my wrists are smaller than his, and his forearms are significantly meatier than mine. Now that I look at it, he's actually pretty well-toned. That doesn't really match his personality... but it makes sense for his Quirk. That's not the point! "See? My hands are gigantic!"

The sound of a camera shutter breaks the two of us out of our conversation.

Across from us, Mina, Toru, and Jiro are staring at us impishly. Momo is behind them, looking slightly ashamed for being here. Mineta and Kirishima are here too. With Mineta pale as a ghost, and Kirishima yowling cheerfully at the side.
Seems like some of Class 1-A broke away from the study session to check up on us.

"You two seem to be hitting it off well." Jiro teases with a sly smile.

Mina takes a few more photos before putting away her phone. "Are you two an item now?"

"What are you talking about?" I ask with a slight irritation in my voice, leftover from my argument with Midoriya, "We're still just friends, right, Midoriya?"

"Of course." he answers with a slightly proud face. He seems to be enjoying the fact that we didn't fall into their ploy like they wanted us to.

"Oh? Then why are you two holding hands?" Mina asks smugly.

Midoriya and I turn towards each other, slowly realizing what position we were in. Sitting on a bench, closely to one another, our hands planted against each other's, looking into each other's eyes. Oh crap.
We pull away immediately, our faces turning red. "This isn't what it looks like!" I yell.

Awkwardly enough, I don't get a response. I glance at the group. They're staring back at me, specifically, with a look of astonishment. What did I do?
It quickly dawns on me that it wasn't anything that I did - it was how I did it. I clear my throat hard. "This isn't what it looks like..." I repeat, but now with a completely different tone of voice. It was a subtle change so I never realized - but the tone of voice I used around Midoriya had lightened over the course of the day. Friendlier, bubblier, maybe. All I know is that it's a tone of voice that no one other than my family's heard from me. I never realized just how different it was from my 'regular' voice until now.
Focusing hard to normalize the tone, I continue, "We were just comparing hand sizes."

"R-Right..." Mina says with a nervous snicker.

"We were." Midoriya chimes in, "All we were doing was comparing hand sizes. You just caught us at a really awkward time."

"Yeah right." Mineta scowls with dramatic tears in his eyes.

"No, really! Tsuyu and I had our date like you guys wanted, but we're still just good friends."

"Well that was a waste..." Toru groans.

"Hey Midoriya." Kirishima calls out, getting everyone's attention, "It may be easy for you to say that the both of you are still just friends. But it's pretty pathetic of you to say it right after holding hands with her - coincidence or not. It's a man's job to take their actions with the opposite sex seriously. You just took her hand-virginity and you're just going to play it off like it was nothing?"

A silence falls on the group.

"Hand-virginity, really?" Mineta glares at Kirishima. "What are you, ten?"

"What? I'm being serious! Any bonding moment with a girl is serious business for a guy!"

"So if they even look at each other, would that count as eye-ginity too?"

"It depends on how they're looking at each other..."

"That's enough of that." Momo walks forward and places herself between the two bickering boys. She looks at me with a sort of sad look in her eyes. "If that's your decision, then we should respect it. You two tried it out for the day, and it's your choice what happens afterwards between the two of you. But you have to be sure - is this really how you want it to end? This may be your only chance to be fully open with yourself and say what you really mean to say."

I stare hard at Momo, tilting my head almost until it's sideways - and put my finger to my chin, "Yaomomo... I think you seriously have the wrong idea over Midoriya and I's relationship. We're not hiding any feelings. We're really just friends, that's all."

"Huh?! But when the two of you..."

"And that's enough of that." Jiro interrupts Momo this time and pushes her off balance. "Yaoyorozu here reads too many romance novels."

"H-Hey!"

"You do. Anyways..." Jiro approaches me, putting her hand on my shoulder. "Sorry about all this." she says with a grin. "It's just - when the two of you were having that exchange at the mall, we all thought there was really good chemistry between the both of you. And it would have been a waste if you didn't at least give each other a shot. It's rare to find someone safe to try on your first date, especially one that you would consider a friend first - and it's even rarer that they would feel the same way towards you. Seeing both you and Midoriya like that, we thought, 'Why the heck not?' and pushed for this whole event."
She puts her other hand on Midoriya's shoulder and pats us both. "If we gave you any trouble, then I'll apologize for the group - it was mostly my idea. But hey." She teasingly pushes him. "You did a good job for a guy on his first date. Thanks for taking care of Froppy for us."

"N-No problem." he nervously answers with a cute laugh, "She took care of me too."

"You're a good kid, Midoriya. Are you sure you don't want to take her first kiss?"

"WHAT?!" I can't tell if I shouted that, if Midoriya did, or if we both did. He's looking at me now. I don't know why, but I can't bring myself look back at him in return. This is just really embarrassing. I feel like I'm going to fall over and die.

"I'm just joking! Just joking!" Jiro laughs as she slaps our backs. I want to slap her away. "You two are adorable. Truth be told, it's not a bad idea if you decide to change your mind after all this, Midoriya. I'd be stoked. It's nearly impossible to find a good-enough guy to care after your friend."

After calming myself down, I end up blushing again. Jiro's very sweet. She's a little standoffish at times, and oddly formal with us despite her rebellious attitude. And of the friends I've made amongst the girls of 1-A, she's the only one who doesn't like being called by her given name. Because of these traits, I tended to think that she was only tolerating us hanging around her. But her words this time around removed any doubt over her real care for us, as her friends.

"So do we have your approval?" I ask.

"Woah now. Are you seriously asking me to give the OK to your relationship?" Jiro's eyes brighten up.

"No, I mean: do you approve of Midoriya and I staying as friends even after this whole dating thing? So you don't try to pull another stunt like that?"

"Oh... Well yeah. I won't try to pull that stunt on you again, Froppy. You say what you mean and you mean what you say - that was made pretty evident here. But that doesn't mean I won't try to pull this on any of the other girls."

"That's fine. I just don't want another misunderstanding plaguing me in the future."

"Yeah yeah. You're off the hook."

"Thanks, Jiro." I say as I hug her at the hip.

"REJECTED ONCE AGAIN, IZUKU!" Mineta roars in victory. Over what, I'm not sure. At least he doesn't look like a ghost anymore. "You really need to stop trying so hard with the ladies."

"You need to stop trying so hard too." I slap him across the face with my tongue. I can only tolerate so much from him.
I stand myself up from the shared bench and relax my shoulders. "All-in-all, it was a pretty fun day, Midoriya. Thanks for agreeing to go through with it."

Midoriya stands up, scratching the back of his head shyly. "Thank you for suggesting the option. I know I would've just buckled under the pressure and taken it too seriously. I mean, that's not to say I didn't date you seriously - or no, wait, I mean -"

"I know what you're trying to say. Did you have fun?"

"Yup!" he exclaims with a stupidly big grin.

Jiro nudges me lightly with her shoulder. She leans down and whispers, "You sure you don't want to keep him hooked?"

"I thought I made my intentions clear."

"Okay, okay... I'm just saying... You've got a big, stupid grin on your face."

I do? I feel at my cheeks. They're raised up - and they kind of hurt. When did I start smiling like this? Do I always smile like this? From the way Jiro put it - this is the first time I've done this in front of her. Maybe Midoriya's smile really is contagious. I turn away from him, trying to calm my smile into a normal one.
"Thank you for the date... We should hang out like this more sometime." I tell him.

"Definitely. You don't mind if I text you more, do you?"

"Not at all."

Some ooo'ing came from the girls, sprinkled with a cheerful 'Yow!' provided by Kirishima.

"Can we give it a rest?" I groan, then yawn. This whole ordeal has me exhausted. "Mina."

"Yeah?"

"I need my notebook back."

"Oh shoot. I left it with Aoyama. I'm sorry!"

"Just give it back first thing in the morning."

"Will do!"

"I'll be heading home now, everyone. Thanks for the fun. See you all in class tomorrow." I give them a tired wave and nod to their responses before I turn and head towards the train station.

For some reason, I was kind of hoping that Midoriya would offer to walk me there.