"Yaomomo, you've been smiling a lot to yourself lately. Did something good happen to you?" Ashido asks. It was their turn to take care of classroom cleaning duty and the two girls now walk to the dorms after finishing. Even while mopping the floor, Yaoyorozu has been grinning to herself for no visible reason. While her friend has always been a little weird (in a good, cute kind of way), she's never done this before. And Ashido wants to get to the bottom of it for her own curiosity.

"Ah, do you think so?" Yaoyorozu sheepishly replies and scratches her cheek. "I guess you can say that something good has indeed happened to me. I wasn't aware that I've been smiling, though I have a feeling I know what's causing it. I'm just not sure if I should say it out loud…"

"Come on, you're just making me more curious by saying that. You can tell me~"

"Alright, you win. Do you remember the final exams?"

"Ugh, I wish you didn't remind me. I have bad memories from failing. But yeah, what about it?"

"I was paired up with Todoroki-san."

"Oh, yeah. I remember that." The two recommended students were the first student pair who was called, and against Class-A's homeroom teacher, Aizawa, no less. "Lucky you." She will forever hold a grudge against whoever's decision it was to stick her and Kaminari, the two students with the worst grades in the class, together against the principal, Nezu.

"We were also close to failing until he said something that cheered me up. If I've been smiling, it's probably when I think of that. I've been reminiscing about that time a lot."

The only thing that pops up in Ashido's mind now is that he confessed his love to her friend. "Don't leave me in suspense now! What did he say?"

Yaoyorozu looks around to make sure the coast is clear. She then asks a question in a much lower tone than previously. "Could you promise not to tell anyone about what I'm about to tell you?"

"Yup. No problem." Ashido is now even more convinced of her theory after being sworn to secrecy.

"I'm serious."

"So am I. I don't know what you think of me, but I'm not the kind of scumbag that would tell someone else after making a promise."

"Okay, I believe you." Yaoyorozu takes a deep breath and Ashido is filled with anticipation about what she's about to say. "He said voted for me!"

"Huh?" Ashido is expecting more to come from Yaoyorozu. Nothing else comes from the latter and she seems to be done talking while blankly staring back. "...So? That's it?" Ashido can't hide the dismay in her voice.

"What do you mean that's it?"

"...Wait." After the initial disappointment passes on, Ashido wonders why it sounds as though what Todoroki said took Yaoyorozu by surprise. "Was this news to you? You never knew about him voting for you until he said it?"

"How would I? The votes were anonymous."

"Yaomomo… we all knew that. Everyone in the class knew Todoroki voted for you."

"…What? How?"

"Everyone that got a vote voted for themselves. The only ones who didn't get a vote were Uraraka, Iida, and Todoroki. With how chummy the first two were with Midoriya, it wasn't hard to figure out where they put their ballots. By process of elimination, that leaves Todoroki voting for you."

With how rationally Ashido explains it, Yaoyorozu sees the results of her tutoring has made an impact. She has mixed feelings about seeing it used like this, however- and against her. "...Why can't you put this effort into studying?"

"Stop talking like my mom, Yaomomo. It was so early in the year people were still trying to remember their classmate's names. It's understandable to only vote for yourself when you don't really know anyone else in the class. Plus, I'm petty enough to try to find out who didn't vote for themselves while not voting for me afterwards. I don't get those feelings from a textbook.

"Anyway, back to the main topic… He was super cold at the beginning of the year, no pun intended. He showed zero interest in his classmates. I assumed he would have just voted for himself like almost everyone else. Except he didn't vote for himself and chose to use his vote for you.

"It's clear he's been crushing on you since the beginning."

Yaoyorozu manages to completely follow and even agrees with Ashido's eloquent logic… until the very last sentence. "H-he has not! Just because he voted for me doesn't mean he likes me!"

"Okay, fair enough. Maybe he doesn't like you that way." She grins as though she doesn't believe what she's saying for a second. Which she doesn't. "Even if that's the case, what you can admit is he at least trusts you, right? He also picked you as the first of his teammates for the cavalry battle. He wanted to make sure he had you no matter what."

"...Okay, yes he trusts me as a hero. And I'm very flattered about that." This is something Yaoyorozu can agree with, though reluctantly as she's not sure what direction Ashido wants to pull this conversation towards. "But- again- that doesn't extend to any other feelings."

Ashido opens her mouth before closing it again. A very appealing idea has just hit her. "I'm going to send a quick message so just wait for me, okay? It'll only take a few minutes, tops."

Yaoyorozu finds this timing suspicious, but she has no reason to refuse. "Sure."

Yaoyorozu expected Ashido to say something once she returned from sending her message. Instead, the two continue walking for a few minutes. Yaoyorozu's worries turn out to be well placed. Ashido pulls out her phone and looks at her recent notifications. "Great! Looks like that's the last person. Now every girl replied to me."

"Replied to you about what?"

"I asked the other girls who they thought voted for you. I mean- I was pretty sure everyone thought the same thing, but we never talked about it. Now, there's proof! Check it out." Ashido shows the screen to Yaoyorozu with all her messages shown.

Yaoyorozu slowly looks at the phone. They all seem to say the same thing, though she wants to confirm it. "I can only see part of their answers. Can I look at them individually?"

"Sure." Ashido extends her phone towards Yaoyorozu, who slowly grabs it and clicks each message one-by-one. Yaoyorozu sees Ashido copied and pasted the same question to each girl. Hey, just a quick question. Remember how Yaomomo became vice-president of the class because she had two votes? She voted for herself, so who do you think was the second vote?"

Uraraka: Todoroki-kun definitely voted for Yaomomo!

Asui: Ochako-chan and Iida-kun probably voted for Midoriya-kun so… Todoroki-kun?

Hagakure: I have a strong feeling that it's Todoroki-kun!

Jirou: Obviously Todoroki, no?

Yaoyorozu now sees that Ashido's assessment was accurate and that she is truly the last girl to find out. Her thoughts are interrupted as Ashido opens her mouth once again. "Want me to ask the guys, too? I asked the girls because it's easier when there's less of them. Plus, some guys might not understand or take forever to respond."

"No, that's okay, I get the picture. I don't know how I didn't figure this out previously."

"Yaomomo, you're really smart. Way smarter than me, yet even I figured this out. It's not that you couldn't solve it, it's because you were ignoring it."

"Well, yes. It ultimately doesn't matter who voted for who as the results stay the same and I wanted to respect the process."

"But it did matter!" Ashido exclaims. "You said you passed because he told you he voted for you, right? You were in danger of falling before that point?"

"Yes, that's right."

"See? If you figured it out earlier, his words wouldn't have had anywhere near the same impact. Sometimes these things just happen to fall into place." Ashido then raises a smirk. "Maybe you'd become the number one hero in a flash if he said he loved you."

"D-don't tease me like that!"

"It is a little weird that the person with the highest grades in the class couldn't figure out what everyone else did, though. I guess that famous saying is true after all."

"Which saying?"

"Love is blind~" Ashido hurriedly runs away while laughing as Yaoyorozu chases after her.

After running for a little bit, Ashido and Yaoyorozu have finally reached the dorms. To minimize the chance of eavesdropping from the wrong people, the two sit on a bench outside. They made a quick pitstop at the convenience store, so they take this time to eat some of the snacks that they picked up.

"But seriously, Yaomomo, you do like him, don't you?" Ashido asks after taking a bite of her onigiri.

"Since the final exam, my heart flutters when I see him or even think about him."

"It's great that you can be honest about that. Don't just leave things as they are, though. If you're nervous just thinking about him now, things might not change between you two and then we'll all graduate before we know it."

"Do you have advice for me?"

"Do those feelings affect you during class? I haven't noticed anything different there."

"I do have to keep my grades up to give confidence to those who believe in me."

"Alright, so the problem's with the out of class stuff. That's easy; just start with something small like sitting next to him on the bus on the return trip. Or ask him if he wants to see a movie or go grab coffee with you."

"We sit next to each other in class?"

"Yeah, but the seats on the bus are closer to each other. More intimate." The glare Yaoyorozu sends Ashido causes the latter to put her hands up. "Fine, I'll stop with that. Say you start dozing off or something. You can lean your head on his shoulder. Or the reverse could happen too. Heck, maybe you could both fall asleep and neither of you would want to wake up."

Yaoyorozu shakes her head at Ashido. "You're having fun with this."

"Heck yeah I am." Ashido asks another question while trying to open her Pocky box. "Did you always like him?"

Ashido rips open the box cover and reaches for one of the plastic packs inside. She tears it open and offers the first one to Yaoyorozu.

"Thanks." Yaoyorozu takes one and puts it in her mouth and Ashido follows suit. "...I don't think I liked Todoroki-san then. Or at least, the way I like Todoroki-san now is different from back then. I might not have disliked him, but it's as you said. He was cold, almost unapproachable, at the beginning of the year. "

"Back then? Does that mean you like him differently now? Maybe even love?"

"I think… possibly, yes." Yaoyorozu blushes and takes a bite out of her melon bread.

"Wow, that's really cute. I know I might sound like I was joking before, but-" At possibly the best timing ever, Ashido sees the topic of their conversation make his way over. "Oh sh- hey, Todoroki." Ashido waves behind Yaoyorozu and towards Todoroki. Could this day get any more perfect?

Yaoyorozu is hoping that it's just a prank by Ashido, but his deep voice tells her that this is reality. "Hello, Yaoyorozu and Ashido."

Yaoyorozu anxiously turns around and sees him slightly sweaty in his hero costume. "T-Todoroki-san… hello." Could this day get any worse? "What are you doing here?"

"I just finished practicing my quirk for today and headed back to the dorms. I was about to go shower inside when I thought I heard you two talking about me."

"...How much did you hear?" Yaoyorozu asks in a whisper. She is as curious as she is scared of his answer.

"Not much. Just my name and the only thing I could make out clearly was hearing that you didn't like me?"

Why on earth did he have to hear that out of everything else? "I-it's a misunderstanding, Todoroki-san." Yaoyorozu always finds honesty a decent place to start. "I don't dislike you." As soon as the words leave her lips, regret sinks in. Wow, that came out horribly. She becomes annoyed by Ashido blatantly fighting the urge to crack up and doesn't think before speaking. "In fact, I like you quite a lot."

Todoroki's usually expressionless face becomes visibly shocked. "What?"

"...What?" Yaoyorozu now realizes what she just said and attempts to look for an escape before stopping herself. Perhaps I should take Ashido-san's advice to heart and be brave for a little bit. "I... said I like you a lot, Todoroki-san." She stands her ground (though she's sure her face is red). She then hears Ashido clapping and cheering in the background.

"That's right, go Yaomomo! She has even more stuff she wants to say to you. Isn't that right?" Ashido mischievously grins. She also sends a quick wink before backing off to give the two some privacy.

"You have more things that you want to say? What is it?" Todoroki asks when Ashido is out of sight.

"Tomorrow… Do you want to see a movie after school? There's one that's been getting universal praise that I've been wanting to see."

"Sure. Wait- actually, let me check something." Todoroki opens up his schedule on his phone and quickly puts it away after reading it. "Sorry, tomorrow's my turn to take care of cleaning duty. I won't be able to leave immediately."

"...I can wait."

"Okay. If you're sure you don't mind the wait, I'll go with you if you want."

"Thank you." Yaoyorozu glances at Todoroki's towel wrapped around his neck and realizes that she's been holding him up for so long that his sweat has dried. "Sorry, I didn't mean to keep you here until now. Can I walk with you until we're inside?"

"No problem." They maintain the same pace for some tens of meters when her right hand accidentally grazes his left. Todoroki stops to look down at his hand and she follows suit. He then shifts his head to face hers. "Yaoyorozu?"

"Yes?"

"I've always liked you, you know."

While becoming the number one hero might be too tall of a task right now, she really does feel like she can do anything after hearing that. "T-thank you, Todoroki-san." Maybe it's like Ashido-san said, sometimes these things do just work out for no rational reason. She glances at her hand that grazed his and has the urge to do something that she's never had the courage to do before today. She touches his left hand again, this time purposefully, and slowly wraps his hand with her fingers. He looks down and takes a few seconds to understand her intentions before adjusting his hand to intertwine perfectly with hers.