Most of Class 1-A was called into the Principal's office for questioning and lecturing. I'm sure this is the first time so many students were called in at once. We were probably the focus of gossip for the entire student body - though I doubt any of them knew what really happened in our classroom. One could argue that not even those in our own class knew what happened. Most of the testimonies blurted out made little sense of the event. Whatever stories was spun, whether by witness or gossip, Midoriya was made the main culprit of them all - seeing as he was the one that actually destroyed school property. It was an overreaction on his part, of course, but I'm the one that should have been faulted for this.
Hindsight being 20/20, I realized soon after the fiasco that I could have simply answered Midoriya's question with 'I'd really prefer it if you don't see it'. Even if the others continued to show curiosity over the photo, a formal denial would have stopped them dead in their tracks. And knowing my friends, they wouldn't have shown the photo to anyone if I really didn't want them to. If anybody overreacted and blew things out of proportion, it was me.
I've never reacted like that in public before... it was really immature of me. And I'm ashamed of it. I did my best to explain the situation as clearly as I could to the principal and faculty - and they got the general gist of it. Momo, Mina, Jiro, Toru, and I were all lectured and forced to delete the photos from our messaging history to avoid further trouble. No one would cause a fuss over it again. Additionally, our entire class was restricted from using their phones during class for an undisclosed amount of time. Class 1-A would all share the blame for the immature mess that my friends and I caused.
Midoriya, though, still had to be the one held responsible for the damages of the incident. I would have been crushed by guilt over that judgement, but I had overheard that he was only being given a harsh warning as punishment. Someone in the faculty must have vetted for him. I seriously doubt UA would tolerate such behaviors on no-Quirk grounds - and from a student, no less. Without an influence from the faculty, I'm sure Midoriya would have, at the very least, received a suspension... which would put a scar on his permanent records.
I'm really glad he wasn't suspended. I would have missed him.
The next few days of class saw things returning to normal. Whisperings and naggings over the incident were dying down mostly, and Midoriya and I's overreactions were pretty much forgotten by everyone. Only curiosity over the photo remained, and the only one willing to say anything about it is Sparkle-boy Aoyama... Not that he ever says anything worthwhile about it. He just hints at what 'emotions he felt from it', and how 'lucky he was to have witnessed it'. Talking to him brings no one closer to finding out what it was he saw. And I don't think he has any intention of letting them find out. For now, he's just basking in the spotlight of people's attentions.
Mina, Momo, Jiro, Toru and I are back to our usual friendships. I didn't hold a grudge against them for the photo, and they understand that it was rude of them to tease me over it. Though, Momo points out that she never meant her audible response as a tease - she honestly liked the photo. Admittedly, we all liked the photo for varying reasons. Mina could land herself a sidejob as a shutterbug, if she wanted to.
Midoriya and I have slowed down our friendship a little bit. The fiasco kind of shyed us away from one another. Not out of shame or embarrassment, but in mutual agreement. The two of us really excite each other's personalities - in a way we're both not used to yet. If we keep steamrolling forward with our talks and hanging-outs, we could cause another incident. So for now, we're just trying out smaller conversations and greetings. And we'll gradually grow it from there.
The ban on phones is taking its toll on all of us, though. While we had never fully-depended our lives and hobbies on our phones, save for a few incidents, having it removed from our casual campus use is causing a bad itch in each of us. I never knew how much I liked looking at the messages pop up on my phone during my breaks, until now. Iida is suffering from lack of news updates from associations he follows. Bakugo is in a fuss, like usual, but this time over him missing some tournament being streamed this week. Aoyama is nerve-wracked that he can't keep up his daily selfies during lunch time. Momo has been taking far more trips to the library now, even skipping out on lunch, since she lost the convenience of using wikis and watching how-to's. And Mina and Toru have resorted to throwing notes at each other in the middle of class, which has gotten them in trouble four times in the last three days.
Ochaco doesn't seem phased. And neither is Midoriya. Ochaco seems to do well with sticking to the typically scheduled social venues - like lunch time and home room. And Midoriya seems perfectly content with writing manically in his notes. Which notebook is that, I wonder.
I realize I'm kind of leaning forward on my desk in an awkward position. It's a little embarrassing to admit, but I'm trying to nonchalantly get a view of what Midoriya's writing. Within just the two days of us texting each other, I had gotten so used to him explaining most of the stuff he wrote down in his notebooks that I find myself anxious not knowing. Really, I had gotten used to him explaining almost everything he did or thought about throughout his day. Nowadays, I often find myself looking around his shoulder just to get a glimpse of 'his day' and how he is. Getting that sneak-peek into his brain via texts made me wonder more about him - trying to see what excites his overactive mind, and what sort of conversation makes his expressions change. There's a lot more depth to Midoriya Izuku than most would expect. And I'm interested in finding out more.
If one didn't know better, a person would think I have a crush on him. Rather than that - I'm honestly just fascinated by his way of living. It's so different from mine, so much livelier despite its shyness, that I feel like I'm missing something important by not paying attention to it. Like a faint thunderstorm in the distance - I might miss the lightning if I turn away for just a second.
Huh. That was pretty poetic of me. Maybe watching Midoriya living out his life to its fullest inspires me in my own life, or at least changes my way of thinking. I've never had a peer affect me in this way before. It's odd. Do I actually think 'Deku' is… cool?
I must look like some kind of stalker, staring at him like this for so long. Maybe I should just play around with my notebooks like everyone else.
Lunch ends and I'm antsy to head home. I'm tired. I'm not sure why, but ever since that day at the restaurant and park, I've been feeling a lot more tired between classes and activities. I can't blame the phone texts anymore, since I've been using it less and less due to the ban. And I haven't been staying up as late since Midoriya and I agreed to dial things back between us. Yet I'm so lethargic now. Maybe I'll visit Recovery Girl before I head home.
I sit back at my desk and pull out my notebook. We have a free study period today... and I've already studied. Since I have nothing else to do, I might as well get back to messing around.
"Sorry to bother you, Asui."
"Call me Tsuyu, Uraraka." I look up to find Ochaco smiling at me. I'm never sure whether to call her 'Uraraka' or by her given name. She considers me a close enough friend to call her 'Ochaco', but 'Uraraka' is a little more fun to say. "Did you need something?"
"I was wondering if I could borrow your notes from last week?"
"Which ones?"
"The ones over environmental hazards and evacuation. I normally ask Iida for his, but he insisted that you write better notes on natural disaster topics."
"I guess I do. Iida must have borrowed my notes from Aoyama…" I say as I reach into my bag.
Ochaco blinks and tilts her head. "You draw?"
"Only when I'm bored… I'm not that good at it, but-" I freeze. My eyes sink down and stare at my notebook. I had been sketching in it on and off during my breaks. And the most recent doodle I've been working on... was of me and Midoriya, doing that weird duo pose that we did in the photo booth. I thought it was such a weird pose, so I wanted to try drawing it.
Ochaco's face hasn't changed from her tilted smile. Maybe she doesn't mind it?
The corner of her lips just twitched. She minds it. She has a crush on Midoriya - of course she minds it. If you find a girl drawing a picture of the guy you like, it's a little worrying. But if they're drawing themselves with the guy you like? That has to be grudge-worthy.
"It was a pose Midoriya and I did at the photo booth." I tell her plainly.
"You two went to a photo booth?" she asks with a kind tone. She's a lot better at hiding her feelings than Midoriya, that's for sure.
"When the two of us went to that amusement park. You know, for the date." I remind her.
"You two... went on a date?"
It feels like the room just froze… Has no one told Uraraka about what happened that day? Didn't she go to the note sharing session with the others? I thought everyone invited knew about it!
I turn quickly to Mina. It looks like she overheard. But she's covering her lips and shaking her head in response to my anxious stare. I look over to Toru. She's trying to signal me something, but I can't tell what it is. Momo hasn't noticed at all. And I can't turn around to Jiro to see what her reaction is. Oh crap. No one told her about the date!
My throat swallows hard. "W-We were set up. We had no idea we were on a date until we got a text from Mina and the rest. They set up the date. It was just a ridiculous situation put on us, kind of like a prank. Except - not really." I'm nervous. I'm way too nervous about this. I feel like I'm copying Midoriya when he's panicking. I try to get a hold of myself. "Nothing happened on the date. Nothing intimate or strange like that. We just went through with the date as friends, and left it at that."
"Was that what was on your and Yaoyorozu's phone? A picture from that date?"
Crap... She put two and two together. How am I supposed to clear this misunderstanding? Midoriya, I'm going to need your help with this one.
"Yeah, it was a picture of them holding hands and making ooey-gooey eyes at each other, in front of a beautiful sunset."
A chill runs down my spine. Mineta is leaning on my desk, with a stupid look on his face. I can just smack him and say he's exaggerating.
"Oh yeah, I remember that! So that's what that photo was about?" Kirishima! You-!
"HUH?! Deku's got a date?" Bakugo turns from his chair, growling. He scowls at me. "Don't encourage the nerd, frog face."
"I-It wasn't a real date! We never agreed to get together!" I'm shouting over the sudden boom of chaos.
Everyone's gossiping and yelling cheers. Their eyes are all on me and Midoriya.
Midoriya is trying to explain himself, very stiffly, and far too meekly to make anyone listen. Momo's getting swarmed, being asked about the validity of Mineta's description of the photo. Mineta is proudly twisting the details of the events of that day, in his favor. Aoyama appeared by his side, adding to his details of the seen photo. Ochaco is just standing there, sweat dripping from her forehead, brows twitching in a furrow. Everything's spiraling out of control again.
"QUIET!" I yell at the top of my lungs.
Everyone obeys immediately. While I'm still the center of their attention, I stand up and walk over to Midoriya. "Midoriya and I are NOT dating." I say clearly, tugging at his shoulder. He stands beside me and nods frantically to my statement. "Like I've said: We were set up for a date without our knowing, and ended up just going along with it. He and I are NOT together. We're still JUST friends. That's it. That's all there is to it."
"Then what was with the photo?" Mineta, I'm going to slap you blind.
"That photo was taken completely out of context! Momo, Mina, Jiro, Toru, and Kirishima can all attest that they walked into a really awkward moment between Midoriya and I, and just happened to take a picture at the wrong place, wrong time - or right place, right time, depending on who you ask. There really was nothing behind the context of that photo. It was just a really embarrassing pose that the two of us ended up in. It was just embarrassing to see it taken that out of context."
"So we just jumped to conclusions." Ochaco has a creak in her voice.
"Y-Yup! There was nothing going on in that picture, or that date!" Midoriya's blushing hard. "We were just hanging out at the park as friends."
"That's exactly right. And it all got blown out of proportion, no thanks to me. So I apologize for riling everyone up again." I give a very deep bow. Midoriya mimics me and bows even further. "So, please, let's stop talking about this... Or they might suspend our phones for a few more weeks."
That last line caused everyone to firmly nod in unison and slowly return to their previous conversations. The scandal between Midoriya and I was too fun for them to pass up, but they weren't willing to lose more time from their phones.
After a short while, Midoriya and I lift ourselves back up from our bows and look at each other.
"I'm sorry about all that." Midoriya apologizes before I could.
I give him a strange look. "It was my fault to begin with. If I handled the misunderstanding better, people wouldn't get so riled up over nothing."
"Even if that's the case, I have as much responsibility in this. I messed up too."
An arm wraps around Midoriya's shoulder. "That's what a man should say, Midoriya. I'm proud of you." Kirishima says with a sagely nod.
"Oh shush, Kirishima. This was your fault too." I knock the side of his head with my tongue.
"What did I do?"
Before I could point out the obvious, Ochaco walked up to the three of us. Kirishima took this as his cue to go. Scratching the back of her head and laughing nervously, Ochaco exclaims, "That was a really big misunderstanding, huh?"
"Yeah." Midoriya nods frantically.
"I'm kind of relieved... I mean, because, everyone would have kept teasing the two of you if Asui hadn't cleared it up." She twiddles her fingers together, showing her nervousness with what she wants to say next. "So you two just went on a friend date?"
"Yeah, just a friend date. We went to a restaurant and an amusement park. It was fun, but that's all it was. Just a fun and simple friend date." Midoriya seems to be stressing that phrase a little too much.
"Oh, that sounds fun. Just a friend date. Friend dates should be a thing." Now she's doing it too. "Then that means you two didn't end up doing anything crazy, right? Like, I dunno, k-kissing?"
I nearly swallow my tongue. I end up coughing too much that I can't answer her question.
"N-N-N-No! We never did such a thing!" Midoriya answers in a panic. 'Such a thing'... He makes it sound like it's an absolutely forbidden act. Well, I suppose it is.
"That's good!" Ochaco smiles, before shaking her head. "Because first kisses are very important! You should only have it with someone you really like!"
"I agree!" Midoriya shouts in response.
The two of them are laughing terribly now - trying to mask their painfully obvious intentions. I'm pretty sure everyone in the class but them and Iida know that they have a crush on each other. Iida being Iida, I understand. But how the two of them can't see it in each other when it's always right in front of them, I don't get. Are they so low in their self-esteems that they can't even imagine the other liking them? I suppose that's why they work so well together. They're both really naive.
Time passes and the time to head home arrives. I'm beyond thankful, since I feel like I'm going to faint while standing. Tired. So tired. I'm going to sleep the instant I step into my room.
Or at least, I should.