Hello again, everyone. Well, now that the Vukodlak Arc is over, it's time to move on to the Final Exam Arc. Admittedly, following the overall plot line of this arc was simple enough, but what was understandably more complicated was figuring out how to incorporate the changes I wanted to make, one of those things being how to fill the gaps of time the original manga does. In this case, this chapter is essentially my attempt at bridging the month long gap between the end of the Stain Arc and the beginning of the Final Exam Arc, while also making sure to have the events or developments that occur in it come back later on, so as to avoid having this feel entirely like filler. After all, MHA has always been arguably more about the developments and interactions between the characters that help them grow as people, rather than just nonstop action.
So with that being said, I'm confident you'll all still find something to genuinely enjoy in this chapter. I'm trying to avoid taking the easy way out by just having large chunks of time pass by without any look into what happens during it, and I'm trying my best to have it all still be meaningful, since seeing how his friends and classmates help Kolya to grow as a person, let alone as a Hero, is essentially the heart and soul of this story. So, I suppose you could consider this chapter, in essence, to be something of an experiment to see how I do at filling in the mangas' time jumps.
My Hero Academia is the property of Kouhei Horikoshi and Shonen Jump. I only own my original characters, the original events surrounding them, and the alterations of established events that occur as a direct result of their existence in this universe.
I would also once again like to give another shout out to my beta reader, Mizu Hikikomori, who is loyally trying to remain as available and involved as their circumstances can allow, and for that much alone, I am deeply grateful.
A/N: [[]] denotes that certain characters are speaking in Russian.
Chapter 30
Passage of Time
(Течение Времени)
Sunday, June 2nd
The past week had passed with an especially pronounced sense of anticipation, as well as anxiety, for the entirety of Class 1-A; ever since Aizawa had announced that not only would the final exams for the term be on the first week of July, but that afterward, those that passed would all be going to a forest lodge during the summer. The idea of everyone getting to go on what was essentially one majorly shared camping trip together sounded like a recipe for irreplaceable summer memories that everyone wanted to take part in.
Of course, then there was also the overlying threat hanging over everyones' heads: that if they didn't make the passing grade, they would be subject to remedial school for the entire summer. So once again, the students all found themselves continuously walking the razors' edge between victory and defeat, and this was all any of them could focus on throughout the week.
Or, at least such was the case for most students. For a very specific two, however, the passing of that previous week carried something of very similar significance. Due to their internship week having not counted, the last week of May officially brought about the long-awaited end of Nikolay and Minas' month-long after-school detention period. When that fated Sunday at the beginning of June had finally rolled around, it felt like a collection of tremendous rocks chained around their necks had finally been lifted, and for the first time, they felt well and truly free. And between them, only a fool would have thought that Mina Ashido was just going to let that joyous occasion pass by without some form of celebration.
As was the case, Mina and Nikolay now found themselves eagerly walking the streets of Musutafu with Eijirou and Denki, all eager to spend their Sunday with nothing but wall-to-wall fun. Mina was practically bouncing every step of the way, she was so happy to finally be free. "Oh, man, I never thought we'd finally see the end of it! Now we have so many more chances to finally hang out and just have fun! Isn't it a relief, Kolya-kun? Doesn't it feel like we can actually breathe again?"
Of course, for as likewise excited as Nikolay was, he also couldn't stop thinking about the one remaining dark cloud on their current path through school, hence why he was noticeably lagging behind his three companions. "Well, yeah, it does; but I just can't stop thinking about what Aizawa-sensei said about remedial school if we don't do well on the exams."
Even though he was simply stating the dreaded and obvious, Mina still looked back to their Russian friend and couldn't help but let out a childish pout when she saw the deeply thoughtful look in his green eyes, the telltale sign that while he was physically here, mentally he was miles away in somewhere boring and serious.
"Aw, boo, Kolya-kun, you shouldn't be dwelling on that right now! Today's supposed to be a day where we can just have fun together! Are you really saying you'd rather spend a beautiful Sunday like this studying?" Her pout made it clear that Mina was once again teasing the boy, but there was also some genuine disappointment in her tone as well, since she was never one to turn down any kind of social gathering like this, and had hoped he would have been just as eager to join in the fun.
Picking up on that inflection in her tone, and finally seeing it in her eyes, Nikolay seemed to finally realize exactly what she was picking up from his distant attitude, which thankfully seemed to light a fire under his tail. "No, no, no, that's not what I'm saying at all! Of course I want to spend time having fun with you guys, I'd want to do that with everyone if I could. It's just that we both struggled through those detention classes for so long, and it was actually doing some kind of good, we both saw that. I would just hate for all that hard work to go to waste the moment we're finally free of it, knowing what we could actually be able to do if we make it…or not."
However, even in spite of the very legitimate concern on his part, Mina only answered him with a very reassuring smile as she hurried back after him, took his hand and pulled him back in so he could walk tall alongside her, Eijirou and Denki. "Honestly, I'm not so worried about that right now, Kolya-kun. Yeah, detention sucked pretty much all around, but you're right, it actually was useful in a way. I mean, my English and Quirk History grades have actually improved a bit because of it. I mean, they spent so much time pounding that stuff into our heads, I don't think I could forget any of it if I tried.
"And besides, Kolya-kun, you're super smart in your own way, just like Midori-kun. I'll bet you'll find a way to hang onto everything we're learning just in time for the exams. You always manage to pull through in some way with everything else, after all." Nikolay couldn't help but smile in appreciation of Minas' confidence in him; a sight that had her practically beaming.
Although, even with the smile, that didn't stop the Russian boy from adding his own little bite of harsh realism: "Well, to be fair, on the midterm, you still only barely managed to beat my score by a literal handful of points, Mina…and that was still ultimately in the late 50's range out of 100." At this stinging reminder, Mina couldn't help but let out a semi-awkward chuckle, now at least partially realizing that Nikolay maybe did have a point they could study a tiny bit more.
Of course, Eijirou and Denki were both quick on their mutual uptake, and just as quick to try and interject. "Hey, try not to let midterms get you down, man, that's over and done with. You both passed, and that's what matters; now's the time to just hang loose and have fun!"
Riding on the enthusiasm in Eijirous' words, Denki immediately followed up confidently with: "Yeah, and besides, the final exams aren't for nearly a whole other month! There's plenty of time you can waste studying until then, what's the harm in spending a couple days relaxing with your pals? You're just gonna end up worrying yourself right back into the hospital if you carry on like this."
However, for as confident as Denki sounded, Mina couldn't help but laugh with considerable sarcasm. "It's not like you're in any place to say that, though, Kaminari-kun. Yeah, my grades aren't exactly the best, but you're always at the bottom of the whole class! I'm surprised Aizawa-sensei hasn't sent you into detention with us yet. Although, I guess it makes sense you wouldn't be worried. I'm sure you're probably all ready for remedial school anyway."
Nikolay almost couldn't help but laugh at just how fast the bright spark in Denkis' eyes died out the moment Mina had offhandedly given him a harsh dose of his own reality. He knew even the blonde sparkplug couldn't possibly try to argue against that; everyone in class pretty much knew he was the dumbest student out of all of them.
He almost was eager to hear what Denki could possibly come up with as a retort. However, just when it seemed like he would actually come up with some kind of (most likely bullshit) argument, the blonde boy instead turned his attention to a nearby building adorned with all kinds of eye-catching flashy lights, with just as many sounds emanating from it. "Hey, what do you guys say we hit the arcades for our first bit of fun, huh? A little sensory overload never hurt anybody."
Nikolays' first instinct was to point out just how idiotic that statement was, but it was easy to see, especially by the haste in his step, that Denki was just looking for a distraction. And besides, Mina and Eijirou both looked especially eager to go in and have fun. Mina never loosened her hold on the Russian boys' hand as they crossed the street after Denki. "Oh, man, I haven't been in an arcade since the school year began! How long has it been for you, Kolya-kun? And no, those booth games at the amusement park don't count."
His heart rate raising the more the numerous noises inside grew as they approached, Nikolay didn't even try to hide it: "Never."
The look of utter shock on both Mina and Eijirous' faces was downright soul-stirring, like they genuinely couldn't fathom someone never setting foot in an arcade before. If they didn't want to make their Slavic friend feel like a total outsider again, they were doing a miserable job of it. Of course, that shock only lasted about half a second before Mina was once again eagerly grabbing his free hands with her own, and guiding him by them through the entrance. "Well, you're in for an absolute experience, Kolya-kun! Prepare to have the time of your life!"
Given how she had described the amusement park from before nearly the same way, Nikolay could only hope this wasn't also going to involve death-defying rides that would empty his gullet of what little he'd already eaten today. At least Oleg had given him some actual cash as a day-off allowance once he had been extended the invitation to join the trio earlier that morning.
Setting foot into the arcade, Nikolay was immediately bombarded with an absolute wall of all kinds of electronic and human noise, sound effects, chatter and music alike. The place was thankfully air conditioned, especially once he saw just how many people there were, crowding numerous floors of nothing but games, electronic and practical, small and huge, simple and complex. With all the sounds, lights and myriad colors all over the place, it really was like a kind of sensory overload.
However, Nikolay tried his best to ride that initial overwhelm out when he saw just how excited all his friends were to finally be inside, all of them almost immediately making a beeline for the very first games to grab their attention, at least until Mina remembered she was still pretty much pulling Nikolay along on what was his literal very first time in a place like this. "So, any idea what you'd wanna try out first, Kolya-kun? We've got all day, so don't feel like you can't pick whatever. We'll gladly show you the ropes, won't we, guys?" Eijirou and Denki both practically cheered in confirmation with their fists in the air in response; a sentiment that once again couldn't help but make Nikolay smile.
"Well, I'm not sure. Maybe we could take a look from somewhere we won't be in everyones' way?" With an understanding nod, the quartet hurriedly made their way for a section of the ground floor that Nikolay soon realized was set up behind a glass table, with an assortment of all kinds of seemingly random objects mounted on the walls or sitting on the shelves, all with numerous tags attached.
However, he was quick to notice that not one of the numbers on the tags had a yen symbol attached to it. As he took in the lack of rhyme or reason in all the different kinds of objects on display, Mina was just as quick to realize what had caught his attention. "Yeah, arcade prize corners are awesome! They have so much cool stuff you wouldn't be able to find anywhere else. It's not like the games at the amusement park, though. You gotta get tickets in order to get what you want."
"Yeah, and to get tickets, you gotta play, and to play you need to get a card with a set amount of points you can redeem. So, how much you wanna go for, Kolya-san?" Denki quickly asked in accompaniment with Minas' explanation, while Nikolay was still looking at all the different prizes, silently blown away by the huge numbers attached to them, while likewise grateful they weren't actually asking for money…at least, not directly.
Just as he was about to ask any of his friends what they would recommend for a total beginner like himself, a tertiary glance upwards brought him to a motionless state, first in disbelief, but then in awestruck wonder that turned into unbridled desire.
Sitting on one of the topmost shelves was a tightly bound bundle of numerous DVD's, all bearing titles he knew more than well, but had honestly given up on ever being able to find physical copies of again.
"Oh my god…masterpieces, every last one. Complete works of Eisenstein, Tarkovsky, Bondarchuk, Kalatazov and Klimov*! Just when I thought mine would be lost and gone forever." Nikolay kept muttering happily to himself, not even realizing he was actually saying all of this out loud and thereby drawing all his friends to follow his gaze and see just what it was that had gotten his attention so thoroughly, as well as the massive ticket number it was asking for.
"Finally looking to build up a library for yourself, Kolya-san?" Eijirou asked with a knowing grin, to which Nikolay started nodding like a hyperactive little child, making all three of them giggle in amusement. "I used to actually have copies of a lot of those, but we had to leave them behind when we left Russia. How on Earth did a random arcade in Japan get a hold of all these?"
"Well, I remember reading once that apparently prize corners in arcades get a lot of their stuff either on wholesale or donation. Still, hey, if you really want it, what do you say we get started on—OH MY GOD!" Eijirous' relatively collected invitation to get Nikolay started was swiftly cut off by his own, far less subtle discovery of something that had instantly drawn every last ounce of his attention and sense of want.
Now following the red-haired boys' frantic gaze, Nikolay, Mina and Denki soon noticed a relatively large and very finely sculpted statue of the Hero they all knew to be Crimson Riot, perfectly sculpted and sprayed to have a very sharp reflective sheen to it, displaying him standing atop what looked like an ancient Greek-style pillar with a triumphant fist held to the sky, and the base lined with a genuine gold plaque bearing his name chiseled into it.
For the first time since he'd first met his sharp-toothed friend, Nikolay could see Eijirou looked like he was on the verge of salivating, he couldn't take his eyes off such a work of purely masculine perfection. It was honestly really heartening to see his friend, normally so focused on trying to be manly in every sense of the word, let his inner fan boy out just like Izuku.
"Oh, my god, it's so cute!" Mina squealed almost as fast, but not at Eijirous' expense. Now Nikolay and Denki were looking to their pink companion, to find her black-gold eyes shimmering as she was absolutely smitten with something on the lower rows. Nikolay followed her gaze as attentively as a hawk, only to feel a likewise stab right into his nostalgia, for hanging harmlessly on the wall was a small stuffed animal that resembled something between a monkey and a bear with a timid friendly smile, rosy cheeks and big expressive eyes.
"Cheburashka*." Nikolay muttered in disbelief to himself, snapping Denki to full attention. "What, you actually know what that thing is?"
"Of course. Cheburashka has been a beloved children's' icon in Russia since the days of the original USSR. You could consider him Russia's Mickey Mouse, I suppose." Of course, Nikolays' brief little pop culture explanation fell on mostly deaf ears, as Mina nearly rushed the counter, unable to stop staring at it adoringly.
"Oh, I just wanna take it home and hug it so much, it's so adorable!" Mina was currently nothing but adorable herself, absolutely feeling her heart melt with love for something so simple yet sweet-looking.
"Uh, maybe we should take Mina and Kirishima-san away, Kaminari-san. I think they might be drawing attention-." Nikolay began to suggest, before realizing that Denki wasn't starting to step in and get their friends away. Turning in curiosity, he was stricken with surprise to find that now Denki had likewise fallen captive to desire, as his yellow eyes were focused on an exceptionally sleek black leather jacket with a white fur trim inside that almost made it resemble a bomber jacket.
Knowing he was the last one to still have some sense of special self awareness, Nikolay snapped his fingers as loudly as he could, thankfully managing to snap his three friends out of it, but looking no less driven to get what they so desired now. "Oh, we can't possibly leave without this stuff, you guys! Come on, let's get our cards and get to playing! You can consider that Crimson Riot statue as good as yours, too, Kiri!" Mina declared, catching Eijirou especially by surprise.
"Whoa, what? Hang on, Ashido, that's not necessary! I can't ask you to-!" Before he could even finish trying to talk her down, she swiftly extended one arm with her pointing finger almost poking him in the face, with a very determined glimmer in her eye. "Oh, hush, what are horn buddies for if they don't even try to do this much for each other?"
While Eijirou looked considerably embarrassed, muttering "Oh, c'mon, Ashido, don't start with that again," Nikolay visibly perked up, looking to the sharp-toothed boy with curiosity. "'Horn buddies'? What's she talking about?"
Eijirou let out another embarrassed sigh: "It's something Ashido's been calling us ever since I changed my hairstyle to look like this."
To emphasize his point, Mina cheerfully pulled Nikolay in before she began poking at one of the front-most spiked bangs of Eijirous' hair. "Just feel at it, Kolya-kun; Kiri slathers so much hair gel on it, they might as well be horns!"
Eijirou looked to be resigned to being the spectacle of the moment with an embarrassed smile on his face, giving Nikolay the closest thing to a sign it was okay for him to do what Mina was suggesting. With no other choice, he proceeded to pinch at the tip of the other front-most bang, and much like Mina suggested, the whole thing felt so stiff, one could've been forgiven for mistaking them for actual horns. "Well, if you find the title so embarrassing, you could easily just get rid of the dye and go back to that look I saw you have at the Entrance Exam.
"No way, Kolya-kun; this is part of Kiri's whole self-reinvention, don't you know?" Mina immediately protested with a fake air of seriousness, pretending to be offended on Eijirous' behalf, while the sharp-toothed boy began waving his hand in denial, trying to urge her to not play it up so much.
Mina, of course, couldn't help but let out a cheeky giggle and smile in response, while Nikolay couldn't help but do likewise at the sight of how well the two played off each other. Of course, it did bring one thought he couldn't help but express: "To think you two have something so distinctly…you that binds you both as friends…'horn buddies.' I have to admit, I'm kind of jealous."
The moment that word left his mouth, Nikolay suddenly felt a firm grip on his shoulder, forcing him to turn back, only to be then met with Mina quickly cupping his face in her hands, looking him in the eye with a surprisingly serious, heartfelt look to them. "Please, don't even start to think like that, Kolya-kun. No friend should ever have to be jealous of what another friend has, it just leads to a lot of hurt, and you've had enough of that already. Just because we call each other 'horn buddies' ("You're the one who calls us that, Ashido; not me"), doesn't make the friendship between Kiri and I any more precious than the friendship you and I have. You both mean so much to me; you must know that by now, right?"
Feeling the need to really drive her point home as well, Eijirou awkwardly inched his way in. "Yeah, like I said, I don't use the whole 'horn buddies' thing, myself, but Ashido is right, man: it's not a literal case with us, but in general, a friendship built just because two people were to have some physical trait in common…that's no real friendship at all. I mean, what if you two called each other 'hand-and-foot pals' because your Quirks both originate from your hands and feet? You must realize how lame that sounds out loud, right?"
Nikolay could honestly already feel regret for having let himself slip into such a place, jokingly or not, even for a moment, especially hearing how sincere they both were, talking to him heart-to-heart like this. "Right. Instead of holding onto some silly thing like friendship titles, why not just remember this: instead of 'horn buddies' or 'hand-and-foot pals' or anything stupid like that, how about we all just call each other the most important and unbreakable thing we are: best friends for life."
Nikolay almost couldn't believe he was getting misty eyed hearing Mina reassure him of just how important they all were to each other, instead of one over the other. Had it not been for the fact he knew they both would've simply been saddened further to see him do so, he almost would've wanted to verbally chastise himself for even letting the idea of jealousy start to take root in his head for a moment.
As soon as he placed his hands on both Mina and Eijirous' in a show of silent appreciation for their assurances and promises of the iron-bound strength of their friendship to one another, Mina formed perhaps one of the warmest and emotional smiles he had seen from her in a while, right before she pulled both him and Eijirou into another three-person group hug. It was then, that Denki casually side stepped in. "Hey, guys, as much as I'm sure you all really needed the little pow-wow, as sudden as it was, need I remind you this swanky stuff we want isn't just gonna sit there forever waiting for us?"
The moment he had pointed it out, all three of his companions jolted like the recipients of a pronounced static shock, with Mina once again taking the lead with Nikolay in physical tow, heading for the nearest vendor for their arcade cards. With both encouragement, reassurance and excitement ablaze in his chest, Nikolay finally felt well and truly ready to dive head first into this new experience with his best friends at his sides. "Okay…Dad gave me 10,000 yen for the day, so let's see how this goes."
It honestly could have gone a lot better. Right from the onset, it was clear just how out of his element Nikolay was, as Denki decided to take the lead from the get-go, showing Nikolay a variety of video game cabinets to choose from they could play each other at, from racing to rhythm to fighting, the choices were virtually endless…as was Nikolays' losing streak.
It was like Denki was on some kind of omniscient plain with every game Nikolay decided to try, as he kept wiping the floor with the Russian boy in no more than two minutes. After a short while, and 2,500 points on his 5,000 yen arcade card lost with not a single win or ticket to his name, Nikolay could already feel a great deal of frustration festering in his gut, all while Eijirou silently watched on.
"I don't get it! I'm doing everything Kaminari-san has been showing me with all the buttons, pedals and all that, and yet I don't stand a chance against him! What am I doing wrong?" A single hearty brotherly arm over the shoulders from Eijirou thankfully managed to help Nikolay simmer down as the redheaded boy smiled with an air of humility.
"Try not to beat yourself up about it, Kolya-san. Between you and me, I've tried playing video games for a lot longer than you, and I've always sucked at them. Kaminari just seems to have a natural adeptness at it, or he just spends so much of his time playing, it's probably hardwired into that faulty fuse box of a brain of his already. I guess you could say my approach has always been very forward. I always focus on one thing in a situation, and I never notice all the other stuff going on around me, and that's why I myself always lost."
Eijirou didn't realize it, but the moment he had brought up the source of his own lack of skill, it had essentially just triggered a bolt of realization in Nikolays' head. Not only had he been so mentally focused on the upcoming final exams and the urgency of studying, but he had still also been reflecting nonstop on the Rescue Race last Monday, how he had been so laser-focused on the one strategy he'd cooked up in order to win, and how all Bakugo had to do then was get in his way, and his entire strategy had fallen apart.
The explosive sadists' parting words about the need to power through when someone breaks your plans still rang very loud and clear in Nikolays' head, but it was simply a reiteration of the same point from Eijirou that really made Nikolay finally realize what he had done wrong, there and now here. "I think you just gave me an idea, Kirishima-san. Instead of focusing on what I myself should be doing, I need to focus on what the other guy is doing as well, recognize it, and act or plan accordingly around that. For so long, all I've done is try to plan around what I had to do, and try to reel my opponent into acting the way I needed them to…when I should be planning around what they themselves will try to do of their own accord."
Eijirou was, frankly, looking a bit surprised that Nikolay was taking what was essentially just an offhanded comment about his own lack of luck at electronic games, and turning it into a whole philosophical awakening. Although, there was a part of him that couldn't help but find the Russian boys' over-the-top ability to read so much out of so little, more than a little admirable.
"What I need to do is figure out how to compartmentalize, be able to focus parts of my train of thought on both what I can and must do, and what the other wants and will try to do at the same time, and try to figure out a strategy where any two of those sides ultimately meet. Vukodlak was able to do that with our fight even when we tried to dull any one of his senses…in my own way, I need to try and do the same."
With that, Nikolay proceeded to make a beeline right for the last game he and Denki had played each other at, all-but demanding another shot.
And it was from there that the magic proceeded to happen, as Nikolay went into it, this time intently watching everything that Denki did on his end, and testing the waters as to how he tended to react and follow up with what few things Nikolay could at least semi-confidently throw his way. It was far from an instantaneous change, but the moment he was able to accidentally pull off a successful countering combo against one of his opponents' more common moves, that was where things began to pick up more and more.
After about a half hour, Nikolay was finally starting to genuinely hold his own against Denki, at least as far as the few fighting games they had gotten a taste of were concerned. However, the same pattern repeated itself once it came to racing. After a few rounds lost due to simple trial and error, Nikolay once again paid attention to Denkis' sense of timing, and soon they were once again finding themselves evenly matched, and the Russian boy soon found himself finally getting his moneys' worth in tickets at long last. It was still a long ways to go for what he was aiming for, but a start was better than nothing.
And of course, the fact that within the course of barely more than an hour, Nikolay had gone from a hopeless rookie to someone who was at least able to give Denki a halfway decent challenge, left the electric boy visibly surprised, both pleasantly, and a bit frustrated. "What the hell happened? It's like a switch totally flipped in the guy. Was he just messing with us when he said he never played these kind of games before?"
Alas, having been there to witness the entire gradual change in skills, observation and reaction, all Eijirou could answer his blonde friend with was, with a cheeky grin: "No…I think Kolya-san just finally found a groove he can work with, that's all."
And his slow but sure turn of luck didn't end there. Realizing there weren't really any conventional or practical games that could be played directly against another besides air hockey and foosball, Nikolay had decided to try his luck at something more personable, like single-person basketball and skeeball. Of course, his sense of aim with a ball was vastly different from his sense of aim with his Quirk, especially since the overall constructs and concepts of both were vastly different from both times he had used his Quirk with projectiles. This wasn't like pitching or deliberately throwing something to stop someone. This was all for the sake of making a tiny goal, and he had a lot to learn on that front.
Of course, once he decided to stick to skeeball and try applying the most minute touch of his Quirk through his fingertips at the last moment when throwing an underhanded toss, he started regaining his rhythm, making a fair share of tickets back from that.
After a good while of fiddling about throughout the arcade, trying his luck both against Denki, Eijirou, and even a few other random players, Nikolay had all but lost track of time, but had certainly not lost track of his tickets, having to practically heft a plastic bag from the prize area in order to carry them all. He honestly couldn't help but feel like an old television bandit with a large burlap sack of money; a silly childish image that couldn't help but put a smile on his face for actually living it out, for all intents and purposes.
It didn't take him long to reunite with Eijirou and Denki, both sporting similar bags of tickets for themselves, with Denki having likewise managed to recollect himself and start wiping the floor with several other players, and a visibly aggravated and coerced Eijirou, who had only gotten his share of tickets from basically being the undisputed champ at an actual arm wrestling setup they had.
"Well, a few minor hiccups on all our parts aside, I'd say we've come out with a pretty good haul, definitely enough for at least one piece of that awesome loot at the prize area. We should get Ashido and hurry over before someone beats us to the punch." Eijirou suggested once he realized that they actually hadn't seen Mina for a short while, they had been going from one game to the next almost nonstop.
Almost as if that was the cue, a sudden upswing in nearby cheers drew all three boys' attention. It sounded to be coming from a pretty sizeable crowd gathered at one of the large games set up at the end of this floor. Unable to resist their curiosity, the bag-hefting trio made their way over, soon finding the crowd was apparently watching a giant screen on the wall, that didn't seem to have any visible input except for a series of rippling spots appearing all across the screen in some kind of rhythm and pattern.
"Hey, what's got the crowd so lively all of a sudden?" Denki asked a random stranger in the crowd as the three were still struggling to get a view through the sea of people. "Oh, man, it's awesome! This pink girl with weird eyes came up and challenged the unbeaten champ at this dancing game, and she wiped the floor with him in no time flat. Since then, everybody's been coming up to try and oust her from the top spot, and nobody's been able to do it. She's an absolute dancing machine, it's unbelievable!"
The light bulbs went on over all three boys' heads as they exchanged very knowing looks with one another. By now practically having to fight their way through the cheering crowds, they soon managed to finally make their way to the front, and it was there that all was finally confirmed.
Atop a raised, illuminated and widespread stage lined with numerous buttons, was Mina herself, currently in the middle of absolutely tearing up the floor with one of her patented breakdancing full-body spins, somehow managing to land one of her feet or hands, and sometimes even her own head, on the next of the floor buttons that was lighting up, while her opponent was visibly struggling to not only keep up with her insane speed and flexibility, but also to just try and keep to the rhythm of the noticeably funk-centric music that the game was playing. The match itself certainly seemed to be considerably heated.
In the end, however, the guy challenging her ended up tripping over his own feet, just as the song ended, and both their scores were posted up, with Minas' being well over ten thousand points over his own. As the crowd cheered, Mina dutifully hurried over and helped her opponent to his feet, shaking his hand and, since none of the boys could hear her over the cheering of the crowd, was clearly congratulating him on a good game, as he gracefully made his exit, and the crowd simply continued to cheer.
Had he known this was what Mina had been occupying herself with while he, Denki and Eijirou had been going from corner to corner to try and rack their own tickets' worth of games, Nikolay honestly wished he could've been here to watch her establish and protect her clearly uncontested reign. But even aside from all of that, as she bowed graciously to the cheers of the onlookers, he nearly felt his heart skip a beat to see the pure, raw and unbridled excitement and joy written all over her sunny pink face.
Just as he had witnessed and been told more than once before, it was clear as day that this might as well have been Mina Ashido in her full-on element, and there was something indescribably beautiful about it. Something beautiful enough, that Nikolay didn't even realize Mina had noticed his and the others' presence among the crowd, and was eagerly inviting him to come up and join her, until Eijirou and Denki were both nudging him with their elbows to actually react.
Not only realizing he had essentially been put on the spot, but also knowing he couldn't possibly turn down her invitation in front of so many people, Nikolay handed Eijirou his own ticket bag, and nervously made his way up onto the stage, feeling his stomach twist and turn as he looked at all the numerous buttons he was going to have to keep up in landing on.
"Why would she be inviting a guy like that to play against her? He looks so awkward and stiff, he's probably never danced a day in his life." This was just one of many such comments echoing out from the crowd as Nikolay tried to get himself set up on his portion of the stage at Minas' beckoning. Of course, once those comments reached her ear, she was immediately turning to face the crowd on her heels, absolute confidence reflected in how tall and straight she stood. "Hey, this isn't a one-on-one match right now. This is one of my best friends, and I just wanna show him the ropes first. He used to dance, but it's been a little while, so he needs to get a little bit of a refresher course. Just be a little patient, please."
Despite her speaking up in his defense, once Mina approached to try and give him some pointers, she immediately noticed the lack of confidence in Nikolays' green eyes, not helped by being the center of attention of so many total strangers. "Mina, I don't know if this is such a good idea. Yeah, Dad said I used to be able to dance, but it's been more than just a little while. Besides, I've never done the kind of dancing you do."
Before he could go on further doubting himself, Mina swiftly silenced Nikolay with a single raised finger to his lips, right before she placed her hands on his sides, getting him into position in the middle of his portion of the stage. "Don't worry about all that, Kolya-kun, we'll just start off with something slow and simple so you can get the hang of it, then we can really start having some serious fun together. The whole name of the game is to try and hit the buttons as they light up in time to the music. Yeah, it's widespread and can seem pretty intimidating at first, but trust me, once you get started, you'll start getting the hang of it and really wanna start pushing the limit.
"Here, I'll even set it up as a 2-player thing so we can both win tickets for it. I'll pick the first song, even. Just try not to worry or get too focused on any one thing, Kolya-kun. This isn't about winning or losing. It's about us just having fun together…that's all it's ever been about today." Even as her voice softened with deep sentiment by the end, Minas' energy was uncontainable. With her excitement having her go a mile a second, Mina once again made sure Nikolay was set right in the center where he would best be able to reach everything around him. From there she practically bounced to her portion, and hurriedly set up their next game exactly as she said she would. From there, she immediately went to a song Nikolay noticed fell under the category in katakana of 'funk'.
[The Four Seasons – Late December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)]
From the very moment the first beat of the song came on, the very first light directly in front of Nikolay lit up, and his gut reaction was to practically stomp on it, only coming up a second too late, and thus sacrificing his sense of rhythm, as he began trying to follow after every light that followed after, consistently coming in either a second too late, or missing it entirely. He could simply feel the eyes of the crowd boring into his back as he kept trying and failing, while Mina was simply executing every last move flawlessly, making it looks like the most natural thing in the world.
Hell, for her, it essentially was.
As it progressed, Nikolays' fumbling had screwed him over so badly that the song ended up finishing early, as if the game itself realized there was no chance for him to even compete. He almost wanted to descend from that stage and spare Mina the embarrassment, even though a look from her kept anyone in the crowd from actually booing the Russian boy. Instead, she rejoined his side, looking him square in the eye with that same glimmer of confidence. "It's okay, Kolya-kun. You just needed to get a taste for what it's like and knock a little of that ring rust off. Let's try again. You know how the rhythm goes now, so now you have an idea what to expect."
From there, she picked the same mode and the exact same song, and this time, just as she had foreseen, knowing the actual rhythm and general pattern and mechanics of the song and game itself allowed Nikolay a much better chance to perfect his timing and actually start hitting the buttons in time, only slightly stumbling here and there, but actually managing to remember to pace himself so as to get himself back on track.
By the time the song actually reached its natural conclusion this time, more of the crowd was a little bit enthusiastic, but considering how easy it had been, it still didn't leave many impressed. Not that it mattered none to Nikolay, Mina, Eijirou or Denki, though.
"You want to try something a tiny bit more challenging, Kolya-kun?" she actually asked, willing to let him finally take part of the reins in what was essentially her dominant field. Nikolay honestly felt honored. However, he wasn't about to make anything resembling a scene about it in front of such a crowd. And so it was with a willing nod that Mina decided to keep up the two-player setting, while picking something that was considerably more fast-paced.
[The Clash – Rock the Casbah]
It was certainly a much faster pace, which had Nikolay tripping up more than a few times, but still somehow managing to pick himself up enough where he could actually get back into the game and get back to keeping up with his eagerly encouraging best friend, who was somehow managing to keep cheering him on, while still keeping herself absolutely in it, not missing a single beat.
By the middle point, something miraculous actually occurred, and Nikolay and Mina were soon perfectly in synch with their rhythm and accuracy, even though he wasn't pulling off any moves nearly as insane or acrobatic as hers. It was still enough to where they were actually something akin to neck-and-neck in terms of score, and more and more of the crowd was actually getting into it, now convinced of Minas' earlier claim of her Russian opponent and friend simply needing to regain his old sense of rhythm and balance.
By the time the song had ended and the two had received yet more tickets as a reward, Nikolay was feeling especially excited, almost matching the ecstatic smile on Minas' face to see him so unrestrained, getting to at last witness a part of him she had so eagerly wanted to see.
After depositing his new handful of tickets into his bag, Nikolay was about ready to step down, until a momentary touch of hesitation hit him, and he looked back to see Mina was visibly debating whether or not to step down with him. That was when the first words that came to mind ended up escaping his lips all on their own: "What do you think, Mina? Want to do just one more?"
The pink girl before him looked like she was about ready to cry tears of unbridled joy to hear him say so of his own volition, and eagerly nodded in acceptance, almost to the point of giving herself whiplash. "Yes…yes, absolutely, of course we can do one more! In fact, why don't you pick the last one?"
Again, he almost wanted to say he felt honored, but realizing they were making enough of a scene already with Mina having to wipe away the beginning of her tears from her eyes. So, instead focusing on a good way to end this little matchup of theirs perfectly, Nikolay kept them on the same mode and tried to look through the song listings of the same general categories they had been working with.
That was when one name in katakana caught his eye, hitting him with the strangest sense of old homeland nostalgia. He'd never heard of such a song as this, but figuring they'd actually been dancing to songs in English up to this point, if he was right about this one that caught his eye, then what was the harm of giving Mina a chance to dance to her hearts' content to something from his neck of the woods, especially since the game clearly labeled it as one of the harder titles in their selection. And so, with the press of a single floor button, the two teens got into position, readying themselves for anything.
[Boney M – Rasputin]
What commenced was something that none of the four Yuuei students in that arcade would ever forget. As momentarily disappointed as Nikolay was when he realized the song was in English, he didn't let that stop him, as he and Mina proceeded to engage in what was now truly a neck-and-neck match of pure funk and rhythm, with Nikolay somehow managing to meet her insane break-dancing skills with his own internal sense of timing and rhythm, keeping in mind his personal strategy of compartmentalization, watching every button around him for the next one to light up, and making sure to position his body properly so he could reach the next one with his feet without risking throwing off his balance.
Eijirou and Denki couldn't believe what they were witnessing, how their Russian classmate was somehow managing to pull off actually standing toe-to-toe with Mina in a dancing match. As for Mina herself, what she felt was astonishment in the best possible sense of the word. To see her normally timid yet precious best friend just let himself free like this was something more joyous to her than any day of nonstop dancing would have given her.
"C'mon, Kolya-san, you're almost there! Keep it up!" "Yeah, keep it up, you two! You're killing it! Show that machine who the bosses really are!" Denki and Eijirous' over-eager cheers were quickly lost in the likewise cacophony of the crowd as they were now fervently cheering the two on as they kept matching each other beat for beat, almost genuinely on the verge of breaking a sweat at last, at least on Minas' part. Nikolay had crossed that threshold long ago.
However, just when he felt he was finally going to be able to reach the end of a song without managing to fumble at least once, Nikolays' momentary lapse of focus caused him to momentarily misjudge the arc in which to turn his body, only slightly overturning himself, and thus causing his equilibrium to shift too much, and thereby forcing him to lose his balance and go tumbling down to the floor just within the last seconds of the song, while Minas' execution was nothing but perfection, thereby netting her the winning score, and cementing her place as undefeated, to the clamorous cheers of the crowd.
As soon as Nikolay realized what had just happened, rolling onto his back in order to get back up, he was immediately met with Mina kneeling over him with an offering hand extended, and the happiest smile on her face to compliment the shimmer in her eyes. He gratefully accepted her hand as she easily helped him back onto his feet, only to immediately meet him with a full-on hug right there in front of everyone, practically throwing her arms around him and everything, completely ignoring the numerous surprised utterances from the crowd.
"Hey, those are the two from the Sports Festival, right? The kid who actually threw away his shot at the race to save that girl and got himself blown up? Yeah, the same ones that made that winning team at the Cavalry event afterward. How did it take you that long to recognize them? I saw their pictures on the internet just last week. Apparently they helped bag some big foreign Villain who'd set off a bunch of bombs in a nearby city. I think that blonde kid at the front of the crowd was there, too. Man, those Yuuei kids are a real tight-knit bunch, aren't they?"
Nikolay couldn't hope to ignore what so many of the people still watching were saying, but the sense of comfort he got from Mina still hugging him helped him not to care nearly as much as he normally would have. "Thank you so much for that, Kolya-kun! You have no idea how much fun that was! I'd wanted to see you dance so much since your dad told us!"
As truly happy as he could hear Mina was in this moment, Nikolay still couldn't help but indulge his natural reaction to try and downplay his own success. "I'm still a bit rusty, and I'm still not used to dancing to that kind of music. Maybe I'll try to pick back up on some old routines and try playing you again with that, instead."
He was immediately answered by Mina squealing in childish glee again as her hug on him tightened immensely with her excitement before she finally let go, expertly hooking his pinky finger with her own. "Or we could just dance together without a crowd at some point! I'm gonna be holding you to that, Kolya-kun! Now c'mon, let's let somebody else have some fun."
With that, the two finally descended from the elevated platform, before immediately being reunited with an especially excited and impressed Denki and Eijirou; both boys eagerly congratulating the two for their respectively impressive displays, while Nikolay and Mina now both found themselves trying to downplay it as nothing extravagant.
As soon as they had cleared the area and recollected all their respective ticket bags, Denki suddenly noticed something: "Hey, have all the flashing neon lights finally gotten to me, or is it darker outside than usual?"
All four of them immediately pulled out their phones, only to find to their shock and aggravation that it was already just past five in the afternoon. "How the hell does that even happen, it did not feel like we'd been here even remotely that long!" Eijirou exclaimed in disbelief, while Mina was already pumping her fists up and down in that childish way she always did when annoyed with something.
"Huh, I guess that saying about time flying when you have fun is truer than I thought." Nikolay mused to himself, while of course still feeling a measure disappointed as well, considering all the different ideas they had been throwing around on how they could have spent today together.
"Ah, well, at least we can still have time to grab a decent bite. Now come on, let's hit the prize area and cash these bundles in." Denki urged, thankfully getting everyones' heads back in the game as he was already a good step ahead of them.
It took some restraint for them not to just flat out slam their bags right there on the counter and loudly proclaiming what they wanted. Nikolay was about ready to do just that as he brought his eyes up like a hawk to its prey…only to feel his heart go crash landing into the pit of his stomach like a rock: his desired film bundle wasn't there anymore, only a mocking empty space on the shelf. "What happened?"
"What do you mean 'what happened', kid? Somebody came and bought it with their tickets first. Sorry, but you got beaten to the punch. Happens all the time." The clerks' explanation fell on deaf ears, as Nikolay simply hung his head in a crushing sense of defeat, while completely ignorant of a faint yet knowing smirk on that very same clerks' face.
Nikolay almost immediately felt the unmistakable warmth of Minas' hand on his back as he lifted his head to meet her truly sympathetic eyes. "I'm sorry, Kolya-kun. Maybe there's something else here that caught your eye? Surely you must have enough for that." As much as he appreciated what she was suggesting, some alternative to at least lessen the blow, he slowly shook his head.
"No, not for me…but unless there's some kind of ticket tax…I think I should actually have enough for what you guys all wanted. I mean, my goal was the most expensive one by far." All three of his friends snapped at attention once they realized what Nikolay was actually suggesting.
"Whoa, Kolya-san, slow down, you don't have to do that kind of thing for us, man." Eijirou tried talking him down, but Nikolay now had a look of actual contentment on his face, softly shaking his head as the beginnings of a soft smile took hold.
"No…it's not that I need to; I want to. It's the least I can do for all you guys, taking me into a place like this even though I was just holding you down, being a first-timer and all. Besides, you all have been my friends since the very beginning, pretty much. At least let me do this to thank you all for that, if nothing else."
The look of pure imploring in his eyes left his three friends visibly moved, certainly not expecting him to make such a turnaround from his own loss so quickly, and to put such a personal touch to his alternative, as well. However, none of them were about to talk him out of actually showing his appreciation for his friends the way he felt was best. And so, it was with a newly uplifted heart that Nikolay proceeded to use his winnings to give Mina, Eijirou and Denki their coveted prizes, earning joyous hugs and grateful fist bumps and claps on the back respectively.
With their time having ultimately proven to not be nearly as wasted as he had started to think, Nikolay and his friends finally made their way back outside, and just in time, too, as his and Denkis' stomachs chose that time to make their hunger known with an unmistakable growl.
"Yeah, it has been way too long now. What do you say we find something nice and hearty to eat? Since Kolya-san went and bought us our prizes, I'll buy. A real man always pays his friends back, after all." Eijirou declared with no room for argument, as he was now taking the lead, with the rest of his friends eagerly following suit, while Denki simply looked sadly at his now empty wallet, realizing he shouldn't have spent all his money in one place.
"You guys were right; this was a really fun way to spend the day. We should maybe see about getting together regularly for the rest of this month. Would any of you object to maybe making a study group so we can try getting at least a little bit ready for the exam next month?" Nikolay suggested after a good few minutes. However, he wasn't exactly met with the enthusiastic calls of agreement he'd been foolishly setting himself up for.
"Come on, Kolya-san, it's a month, not a week away. We can get into studying later on; don't stress yourself out about it so much. Enjoy your newfound freedom for what it's worth." Denki said with exceptional confidence, although Nikolay wasn't about to repeat Minas' earlier words by pointing out just how ill-advised that mindset was, coming from him.
"Hey, Kolya-kun, could we stop for just a minute?" Mina suddenly spoke up right beside him, bringing their whole group to a sudden stop. Nikolay quickly noticed a really anticipating look in her golden irises, even though she was visibly trying to keep herself calm and collected. "I want you to do me a favor and close your eyes and hold out your hands," she instructed, while holding the straps of her backpack especially tight, as if afraid it would start floating away at that moment.
"Mina, I'm not sure what—"Hush, close 'em!" Her sudden attempt at expressing authority was so extremely out of place for someone like her, it took everything the Russian boy and Denki had to not start laughing at how ridiculous it sounded. However, not wanting to annoy her when she was so clearly anxious about something, Nikolay finally did as he was told.
"Good. Now hold out your hands, and don't open your eyes until I say, okay?" Nikolay by now was starting to get a bit excited himself, only answering her with an understanding nod. All he could hear after was the sound of Mina opening her backpack, and within seconds he felt something quite big and hefty filling both his hands, definitely bigger than whatever he'd told himself to expect. "Okay! Go ahead and open your eyes, Kolya-kun!"
There was so much excitement in her voice as she said this, it was downright precious. Finally opening his eyes and looking to his hands, Nikolay felt his heart momentarily seize as he momentarily struggled to process what he was actually holding in his hands.
There, in his grasp, was that very same elusive bundle of all those classic Russian films he had fought so hard today to win, one of the first physical things he had found himself genuinely wanting since first coming to this country, and now it was actually here in the palms of his hands.
Nikolay was rendered utterly speechless, his green eyes already starting to well with overjoyed tears of gratitude as he finally lifted his head to see Mina smiling at him with that same heart-melting warmth of friendly affection. All the while, Eijirou was watching this whole thing play out like it was a picture perfect display of their kind of friendship in microcosm.
"Yeah, I was the one who bought it earlier, like that clerk mentioned. I got super, super lucky on a coin tossing game and won, like, a million tickets, it felt like. I was originally gonna try and get that Crimson Riot statue for Kiri, or that cute monkey-bear thing you were talking about—"Cheburashka."
"Right. But then I remembered this was literally your first time ever being in a place like that, and…aw, you know, I just wanted to try and make sure you'd have something you really wanted you could remember it by. I know that's, like, super sappy and everything, but I just saw how much you wanted it, and I wanted to make sure you didn't leave empty-handed, that's all. This got you feeling all nostalgic?"
Nikolay kept switching his gaze from Mina to his unexpected prize and back, unable to keep from shedding a few happy tears in gratitude for her going out of her way like this for him, of all people. His grip on the bundle in his hands tightened, as he momentarily wished he had thought to bring his own book bag along for such an occasion. "Yes…yes, it actually does. Thank you…thank you so much, Mina. This does really mean a lot to me. If any of you ever want to one day, I can show some of these to you, maybe."
To his relief, Eijirou and Denki were more than willing to, just by the smiles on their faces. "Hell yeah, man, who says no to a free movie?"
As grateful as he was for everyones' willingness, Nikolay then felt overcome by the need to get the rest of what was now on his mind out in the air, as he slowly looked between all three of his friends, looking them all square in the eyes as he spoke. "As great as this is, however, this isn't what'll make today stand out for me. It's just the fact that I got to have so many new experiences today with all of you there with me…that's worth so much more, I think. I know it sounds like the kind of thing you'd hear from an old person, like a sage or a monk, but I really do think it's true. The only way I think today could be more perfect is if the rest of our friends were all here with us."
Nikolay couldn't help but chuckle in embarrassment at such a saccharine sentiment, but that was before he could see Minas' eyes beginning to glisten with sentimental, happy tears of her own to hear him express something so heartfelt. Once again, it was like watching this rare closed up Slavic flower of a boy slowly but surely blossom before her eyes, and it just warmed her heart every single time she saw it.
Hell, even Eijirou and Denki, to a degree, looked unexpectedly touched to hear Nikolay express such gratitude, even for their presence in his life, which was a very strangely pleasant feeling, the more they thought about it, having never really stopped to think about such things in such an unexpectedly deep way before.
"Now, I just wish I'd brought my own bag with me so we didn't have to haul it everywhere. Mina, I hope you don't mind, but would you maybe be willing to carry it in your backpack until we decide to call it a day?" Nikolay finally asked with another embarrassed chuckle, realizing how exceptionally thick with emotion the air was getting between the four of them.
"Of course, you don't even have to ask." Mina answered instantly as she happily took the hefty bound stack from his still extended hands and fit it back into her pack before slinging it right back over her shoulders.
It was in that moment, however, when Nikolay still had his arms open and his hands extended, and Mina momentarily had her guard completely down as she got back up, that Eijirou, taking advantage of his position relative to the two, proceeded to give only the slightest yet still effective nudge of his elbow into the Russian boys' back, sending Nikolay stepping forward in surprised reaction just that much, that he had inadvertently closed the distance between himself and Mina, with his open arms fitting perfectly around her sides to where he'd essentially been nudged straight into giving her a full body hug from out of absolutely nowhere.
This sudden and incredibly intimate contact between them left both teens completely shaken, with their respective heartbeats momentarily skyrocketing as they finally processed what had just happened; their faces flaring up with intense heat.
And it was as soon as that heat registered, that Nikolay and Mina hurriedly broke away, both repeatedly apologizing, even though she literally had nothing to apologize for this time around. Both their faces were glowing with so much red, a few passing adults couldn't help but momentarily observe the pure display of adolescent emotions in action, nearly all of them considering it downright adorable.
All the while, as Nikolay and Mina continued their seemingly endless exchange of apologies with one another, Eijirou was continuing to observe his two friends with a deeply satisfied smile on his face. And just beside him, Denki was watching their display, and then seeing the content smile on his red-haired companions' face, and couldn't even try to hide the confusion on his own. "What's got you smiling so much, Kirishima? Are you seriously telling me seeing them carry on like that doesn't make you even a tiny bit jealous? I mean, you've still known Ashido way longer than Kolya-san has. I would've sworn that'd mean you'd feel way more strongly about her."
Eijirou instinctively rolled his eyes at how stubbornly clueless Denki was, finally deciding to look the blonde boy in the eyes to get his ultimate point across. "For the last time, Kaminari, Ashido and I are just really good friends, and that's all we ever will be, and I wouldn't want it any other way. I've actually seen a few of my old friends from middle school try confessing to girls they knew for a long time as friends, and it always ended up not only working out, but it ruined the friendships they had, too. We're just lucky, because I just never found myself feeling that way about Ashido.
"But even if that weren't the case, here's the thing you should really try to remember: even if I did have those kind of feelings for her, just look at the way she looks and talks to Kolya-san, the way she has been for a while now. Yeah, she'd probably never say it out loud if you asked, but I get the feeling there's more going on with her than even she might know right now. I don't know why or how, but I just have this feeling, and I think the same definitely goes for Kolya-san himself, towards her. There's something unspoken between them, and neither of them might know it, but it's definitely there.
"And one of the things I remember Crimson Riot once saying, when it comes to chivalry and its connection to what makes a real man: 'If a man cares for two people, and those two people care for each other in an even greater way, then a real man should do what he can to help those two come together, while of course respecting the boundaries of all those involved. Don't play matchmaker, but simply do what you feel you can to help them along in their way.'"
It certainly sounded especially wise and cool in Eijirous' head, just like everything that Crimson Riot said in his numerous mottos, lessons and monologues. However, Denki, for as newly understanding as he was finding himself feeling about the whole Nikolay/Mina situation from Eijirous' perspective, couldn't help but express a touch of skepticism, especially in his face. "I don't know, that sounds kinda…way too specific, not to mention sloppily worded, to just be a coincidence. Admit it, you just made that up, didn't you?"
From there, Eijirou and Denki proceeded to get into an especially lively argument about the speech coming from one of Crimson Riots' rare White Day/Valentines' Day motivational placards, while Nikolay and Mina had finally managed to ride out their mutual awkwardness from their sudden physical interaction, and were now trying to get their two friends back on track so they could all finally eat.
All in all, this had proven to be a truly wonderful, exciting and emotional day for all of them, and it all ultimately left Nikolay feeling all that more grateful for all of his friends, even those that hadn't been there for it.
Thursday, June 13th
Throughout the previous week, Nikolay had tried to maintain a less stressful mindset in regards to studying for the final exam, come July. However, once he realized more than an entire week had passed without his putting in extra studying time, and they were essentially halfway through June now, he knew the time had come to start putting his nose to the grindstone.
This was the decision he made when he went straight for the biggest bookstore in Musutafu City after school had let out for the day. Thankfully, he hadn't decided to go on this little excursion alone, as it turned out a handful of his classmates had pretty much the same idea, albeit with different motives, especially since they still had no idea what the final exam was actually going to consist of yet.
As such, Nikolay finally entered the bookstore later that afternoon, accompanied by Momo, Tenya, Kyouka and Rikido, who had all expressed the need to find an assortment of books related to any number of the classes they were struggling with the most. Or, at least in their class president and vice presidents' cases, they simply wished to give themselves an even further edge in preparation, as well as to give their classmates any direction they so required.
Once it was clear everyone knew what they were looking for and that they would meet again at the lobby in a half hours' time, they were all off across the store…at least, Kyouka and Rikido were, as Nikolay made a beeline for the historical novel and textbook section with Momo and Tenya pretty much following him in tandem. Once he had grabbed a handful of books surrounding the 20th century histories of Africa, Southeast Asia and South America (the three portions of World History the Russian boy was struggling with memorizing the most), he immediately then made way for the English-language section the next row over, which thankfully came with a number of Japanese-English translation guides. They had to be a sight better than the ones the school provided, at least for Nikolays' sake, since World History and English were the two classes he was struggling with the most consistently, right next to Algebra.
Of course, Nikolay would never have admitted out loud that he was struggling with world history, especially in front of his father. Russians prided themselves on taking history to heart; to hear this would have probably made the man blow a gasket in disbelief.
Of course, Nikolay was so razor focused on getting what he needed, he had failed to realize Momo and Tenya were still pretty much following right on his tail, grabbing textbooks of the same subjects of their own. Noticing the number of English textbooks Nikolay was grabbing from the shelves, Momo couldn't help but voice her curiosity: "I must confess I'm surprised you're grabbing so many for this subject alone, Bezpalov-san. Your English grades have been getting noticeably better as of late."
Of course, even as he snickered in agreement, Nikolay wasn't about to start putting any of these back. "Yeah, but that was just because Mina and I were stuck in that detention sentence. Now that it's over, I'm worried we're both at risk of letting our grades slip without the constant demand to stay at school and study for two extra hours. English has been a nightmare up to this point, and I don't want to lose what little we've managed to grasp onto so far. So yeah, these are essentially for both of us, I'm just making some guesses what specifics she'd need help with, herself."
As he tucked away a few pieces of classic English literature under his arm, Tenya, likewise, couldn't help but make his own opinions known to his two fellows: "I must likewise confess I was surprised not to see Ashido-san accompanying us for this, Bezpalov-san. Considering your grades are very close to one another's; I would have naturally assumed she would have wanted to jump on this opportunity as much as you did."
Nikolay mentally let out a sigh of relief, momentarily worried that Tenya, of all people, was about to start going down the same route Denki and Minoru constantly did, throwing around accusations of him and Mina being like a couple. 'Thank goodness for Robo-Iidas' lack of awareness for less academic things,' was all he could think at that moment.
"I had actually brought it up with Ashido-san right around when class let out for the day. At first she actually seemed to consider it, but then she said she wanted us to be able to have a girls' day out and have fun together, Jirou-san and I, along with her, Uraraka-san, Asui-san and Hagakure-san. However, we'd already made up our minds for the day, so there it is. Perhaps I should try running it by them again later; I'm sure they must all recognize the urgency of the exams, the same as the rest of us."
Despite the overall confidence Momo expressed in the rest of the girls being open to studying more in the future, it did nothing for Nikolays' own internal sense of worry, which she and Tenya likewise noticed as the Russian slightly bowed his head in disappointment. "It's just the same as when I brought it up to her the Sunday before last. I understand wanting to actually enjoy things and have fun with friends, of course I do. But we both struggled so much in that damn detention period. I don't want to risk being the only one getting ahead in grades and leaving Mina behind. We've both been through so much together, it just wouldn't be right."
Nikolay knew, of course, he was at risk of letting himself go on a tangent, but a compassionate hand on the shoulder from Momo seemed to sap all of that away, as he looked to see the ponytail-wearing girl give him a reassuring, womanly smile that perfectly complimented her mature air.
"Try not to fret over it too much, Bezpalov-san. While it's true that Ashido-sans' grades are far from the best, they still aren't exactly the worst, which says a lot more than one might think. I feel confident that she is just as capable of being serious about studying when she knows the situation calls for it, or perhaps when she decides she has enough of an incentive to do so. I'm more than happy to provide her assistance if need be, but the fact of education as a concept, is that if students truly want to improve, they must make the conscious decision to do so, rather than to simply have all the material be forced upon them. Their abilities to retain what they learn are nowhere near as permanent in that case."
The moment Momo stopped expressing her honest belief on the concept of educations' relationship to students, Tenya grabbed both hers and Nikolays' attention with a pronounced closing slam of the last book he had grabbed for himself; that same earnest, determined shimmer in his eyes behind his glasses as he closed a mighty fist to visually aid his own point. "Yaoyorozu-san is absolutely correct! Not only in the field of education, but in all professional and personal fields, I'm of the belief that all students can truly never stop improving themselves so long as they make the decision to continuously put everything they have of themselves into it! These coming final exams serve as the perfect previously-described incentive for even the less academically successful of our classmates to push themselves above and beyond their perceived intelligence thresholds, as well as those of sheer skill! Oh, no offense to Ashido-san, in that regard. I do realize you both have been helping each other improve your academic scores, make no mistake."
Momo couldn't help but giggle in amusement at how Tenya had managed to diffuse his own intensity at the last moment, just for the sake of apologizing for a barely perceived insult on Minas' end, in her complete absence, making it unclear if he was trying to extend an apology to her personally, or to Nikolay on her behalf.
However, Nikolay wasn't about to let this awkward little shift in conversation go much further, instead finally drawing his focus to the surprising number of textbooks Momo was carrying, herself, ranging of course from history and English all the way to what looked like chemistry. "Yaoyorozu-san, I'm sorry if I seem like I'm prying, but why did you grab so many books? Your grades are by far the best out of all of us. I would almost want to think you could just relax this entire month before the exams."
Suddenly being made the new subject of their impromptu conversation did momentarily leave Momo a bit embarrassed, but she regained her professional air almost instantaneously after, as to be expected of the 1-A vice president. "Some of these aren't actually intended for the exams, Bezpalov-san. You see, ever since the incident at USJ, things have been going so fast for all of us, it's left me barely any time at all to do the studying I need to create those handheld wieldable tuning forks you had asked me for back then. I had made you a promise I would do what I needed to in order to make them for you, and this is the first real chance I've gotten since then, to grab all the materials relating to mineral ores and natural science I'll need in order to figure out the perfect chemical makeup so that you can have a pair that will be able to conduct sound to the degree your Quirk requires, while also being lightweight enough for you to use in melee effectively, while also not being flimsy enough to break after only a couple uses."
Nikolay felt blown away by just how succinct she was able to explain so much in so little time. Frankly, with everything that had happened in such rapid succession since USJ, he had almost entirely forgotten asking Momo to make him a pair of handheld tuning forks to serve as close-quarters melee weapons he could channel his Quirk through. The fact that she not only had remembered, but was actively taking the initiative to finally bring that old promise to fruition, without any reminding or prodding from him or anyone else, actually left Nikolay feeling slightly touched, knowing Momo cared that much about it.
Not wanting to remain silent and leaving the vice president feeling awkward at having given such an explanation only to be met with nothing, Nikolay finally asked something he realized had been on his mind in regards to her for quite a while: "So, I get that you said you need to know something's complete elemental or chemical build-up by heart in order to create the things you…well, create, but is that really all there is to it, Yaoyorozu-san? Are you able to just create things indefinitely without wearing yourself out?"
Appreciating the fact he'd actually taken that into consideration, Momo smiled while giving him a disaffirming shake of her head. "If it were that simple, things would certainly be much easier all around. No, I can create anything so long as I know its complete buildup, but I also have to make sure that I'm consistently well fed beforehand. You see, I actually create those objects you've seen from the fat cells in my body. As long as I'm properly nourished and have a supply of those, and have the knowledge of what I'm making in hand, then I can make just about anything."
Momo couldn't help but feel the slightest bit flattered when she saw the clearly fascinated look in Nikolays' eye, as he was now once more deep in his own train of thought. It was fascinating, just the depths of actual scientific consideration that all of the students had to put in of their own accord in order to best understand the boundaries and potentials of their Quirks. It was certainly something he knew he needed to take into consideration more, instead of simply focusing on basic adjustments in order to avoid hurting himself through it.
"So, out of curiosity, does the effectiveness of your Quirk alter based on the nutritional values of whatever you eat? I ask because Kirishima-san had once told me that 1-B's Tetsutetsu-san's Quirk is affected by the iron content of his diet. I wasn't sure if yours had a similar parameter to it." As soon as Nikolay had asked, however, he just as quickly realized what an obvious question it was, especially by the amused giggling Momo initially answered him with.
"No, no, it's nothing quite as fancy. As long as I have an amount of fat cells in my body, that's all I physically need in order for my Quirk to work at its best. Of course I need to make sure my diet is to the point where I can maintain my health as well. It's a constant demand for balance that I need to maintain. So, with that logic, I suppose you could say that if I eat something you would consider hearty beforehand, I'll at least have a good enough amount where I won't be as much at risk of running out and thereby end up unable to create anything else. I, at least personally, make sure I have something like a travel bar on hand, just in case."
With this new knowledge now out in the open, a spark of inspiration suddenly hit Nikolay hard. "I hope you two won't mind me excusing myself, I just thought of something I need to grab real quick." With his two presidents' blessings, he hurried over to another section of the bookstore he had spied out the corner of his eye when they had arrived.
All of a sudden he had found himself stricken with the need to start covering one of his bases he had sadly overlooked for the longest time: good old honest supply preparation. Now knowing one of the basic keys to Momos' Quirk, Nikolay realized he needed to start preparing himself for whatever he would need, depending on who in class he could ever find himself partnered with. If he and Momo were to end up working together for whatever reason, what kind of teammate would he be if he wouldn't at least have something prepared on standby in case they found themselves in a situation where Momo would burn through her cells in order to create an assortment of God-only-knew-what?
It was with that in mind that Nikolay hurried around another corner to a section set strictly for multiple different kinds of cook books. As handy as he already knew he was in the kitchen, there were still quite a few different kinds of foods he needed to get better at making, and things that would generally be considered hearty yet easy to carry on the go were one of those.
Rounding the corner, he was momentarily stopped with surprise to find Rikido Sato poring over several different such books set on a reserve table. Once more finding himself unable to ignore his own curiosity, Nikolay approached the spiky-haired big-lipped heavyweight of their class, quickly noticing the books in question were displaying an assortment of different kinds of pastries, with ingredient and instructions listings the next pages over.
"Don't know why I didn't think I might find you here, Sato-san." Nikolay finally announced his presence, only slightly catching Rikido by surprise.
"Man, you're pretty quiet for someone with such a noisy Quirk. You find everything you're looking for already? I can't decide between some of these." Rikido made no attempt to even hide what he was looking at while Nikolay back across the shelves.
"Yeah, I'm trying to find cookbooks that could maybe help me with preparing simpler on-the-go things that are on the hearty side. I figured I should get some practice on that sooner rather than later, just in case." Nikolay admitted, unable to help but feel a touch awkward while Rikido never even took his eyes off his books, while still managing to point him in the right direction.
However, the Russian didn't leave just yet, still looking over the elaborate displays his bulky classmate was looking over so intently. "I'm not exactly sure if those would be considered 'on-the-go', but they'd certainly be filling. I shouldn't be surprised, though. Mina told me you've got a real penchant for the baking craft." This seemed to finally get Rikidos' full attention as he looked at his Slavic classmate with an air of confusion.
"Yeah, back before the Sports Festival, when she and I were handing out Aizawa-sensei's paperwork, she told me that you gave her a bunch of bread you'd made that day, since we had to skip lunch. Thank you for that, by the way. Sorry it took me this long to finally get on that." As casual as he was trying to make this, especially since he and Rikido had never really talked that extensively before, Nikolay found his confidence slowly trickling away.
However, Rikido was thankfully willing to ease the apprehension with an embarrassed chuckle of his own. "I know, it's not exactly what a lot of people would expect from me, being this big and built and all. I don't know, I've just always found it a really exciting and fun hobby…or I guess a passion would be more appropriate in my case. Yeah, I wanna be a big, strong Hero just like everybody else…but I've always kinda considered baking kind of a…not alternative path, but like a second calling, if that makes any sense. What else would you call something you're always looking to improve yourself at, you know?"
Nikolay admittedly felt much more comfortable now that he knew Rikido was open to a little self-deprecating sarcasm in order to ease the air. "Between you and me, I don't really know how you could improve, Sato-san. When Mina and I had that bread you made…oh my God, Russians really are a passionate people when it comes to baking, and that was honestly probably the best bread I've ever had in my life. You're like some kind of genius to me right now in that field."
Rikido once again couldn't help but laugh, quite powerfully given his size. "I appreciate you saying so, but we both know that's not true. I may be good, yeah, but I personally believe that people shouldn't isolate themselves to only perfecting their craft or skill level at one specific thing. You gotta improve in a variety of things, otherwise you risk leaving a weakness in one specific spot, and it could possibly come up one day and bite you in the ass as a result."
Rikido sounded as though his statement was the most obvious thing in the world, and for all intents and purposes, it really was. That was why hearing it out loud made Nikolay feel like such a fool for having never taken the time to stop and think about it.
The fact was that, for all his talk about wanting to expand his way of thinking in relation to how he conducted himself in action, he was still so critically limiting himself. Every time he engaged in a fight or a test, he always relied on the same general tactics: evasion and close-up offence, instead of mixing it in with deflection, personal defense, distance attacks or even good old fashioned deception, most of which he already knew for a fact his Quirk could allow him to do.
Once again he found himself thinking back to Bakugos' parting words. There were so many different ways in which Nikolay needed to be able to expand his planning means, and that included making use of the aspects of his Quirk he had been carelessly neglecting, as well as taking into consideration what outside forces would be doing around him, and how to plan around that.
Hell, it wasn't even just with his Quirk that he was sorely slacking. Even in his personal hobbies, current and old, and in his regular schoolwork, he was putting so much more emphasis on one thing, instead of evenly dividing his focus between all things. No wonder he was suffering in portions of World History, English and Algebra. English might not have had much help, but at least he wouldn't have been slipping in all those other places if he had just divided his focus between them.
Even his hobbies, he knew he needed to start making time to try and incorporate them into his regular life again. That day at the arcade, getting to actually dance again alongside Mina was one of the most exciting moments of his recent life, he didn't want to just let that be a onetime thing.
And even besides that, he'd come here to figure out new recipes and ways to cook in order to expand his repertoire and ultimately make himself more useful in the grand scheme of things. The drive to expand his means and his focus toward all things was all there, but he just needed to hear the affirmation of it out loud for it to finally make itself known, and most importantly, sink in and take root.
It was with this revelation going loud in his head, that Nikolay turned back to address Rikido again. "Sorry for interrupting again, Sato-san. I know this is really sudden, but…do you think you might have any baking cook books at home you would be willing to let me borrow some time?"
Obviously, this got Rikidos' full attention as he looked Nikolay in the eye, as if trying to make sure the young Slav wasn't just playing with him. "Truth be told, I've always wanted to try my hand at making some traditional Russian baked goods. So far all I've ever been good with is soup and basic red meat and fish dishes, and that's it. I'd just like to make sure I can even make something simple before I try delving into anything too fancy, and I thought maybe you might have something that could at least help me figure out where to start."
Rikidos' reaction was practically instant, the biggest smile adorning his exaggerated lips as he rose from his seat and took Nikolays' hand in a firm, eager handshake. "Happy to do whatever I can to help, man. To tell you the truth, I'd actually already overheard from Uraraka-san, Ashido-san, and Kaminari-san that you're actually pretty handy in the kitchen as far as regular meals go. Well, from one appreciator of the culinary arts to another, I appreciate you at least being humble enough to know when to ask for help. I can bring you some of my favorite guidebooks tomorrow if you want. If you ever end up needing further help, don't hesitate to reach out, okay? I can show and tell you everything you need to know."
It honestly felt really nice, getting to actually have this kind of one-on-one interaction and genuinely get to know a bit more about one of his classmates he'd honestly not taken the time to speak to. Clearly this common ground had established a connection between him and Rikido, and he felt genuinely grateful for it, as well as his muscular classmates' offer. "Thanks, Sato-san. I'll keep that in mind, but maybe don't go expecting me to throw my hands up in defeat right out the gate."
In the face of Nikolays' expression of gratitude, Rikido once more couldn't help but chuckle in thoughtfulness. "You know, it's funny. Two guys like us, being as into baking and cooking as we are, I can just imagine what guys like Kirishima or Bakugo would be saying."
To Rikidos' surprise, however, the normally so reserved Russian boy was actually right on the dot with a response: "Knowing Kirishima-san, he'd probably say the baking part isn't 'old school manly' or whatever other adjective he'd come up with. Thing is, he's also tried my cooking, and I know for a fact he's loved it then, so if he were to say it, I would at least have the good grace to know he was kidding. Bakugo, on the other hand…even if, by some miracle he actually liked it; I don't think he could physically bring himself to give anything more than a backhanded compliment if he tried."
This got a round of hearty laughter out of both boys at their explosive classmates' unknowing expense; a shared sensation they were both practically reeling in, before a tertiary glance on Rikidos' part got him at full attention, nudging Nikolay to get himself back together, as Tenya was standing attentively, his own books firmly tucked under his arm, exuding al the authority his position demanded. "Am I correct in assuming you've managed to find everything you're looking for, Sato-san, Bezpalov-san?"
Rikido dutifully got his own books in hand, while Nikolay hurriedly recollected his. "Yeah, I just need to grab another cooking guide and I'll be all ready, Iida-san."
"Alright. Yaoyorozu-san and I are heading back to the lobby so we can all check out and get to studying. However, Jirou-san hasn't come back yet. Have either of you seen her, by any chance?" The thought that Kyouka of all people wouldn't have been in and out with what she needed right off the bat was surprising, but Nikolay still didn't hesitate to step forward. "As big as the place is, she shouldn't be hard to find. I can go look for her and we'll meet back up with you all in ten minutes, tops."
Tenya gave an appreciative nod of approval, and so Nikolay was moving with haste once more, following his gut instinct to head to the section specifically for CD's on the other side of the store, all but certain she would be there, no doubt listening on her headphones, completely deaf to the rest of the world.
To his surprise, there wasn't a sign of Kyouka to be found there when he arrived. When an employee had pointed him in the direction of a section on music-based books, he was once again hot on the trail, while still taking the chance to step into a guidebook section, grabbing a book he was able to read at a glance contained guides on all the traditional folk dances of the Slavic world. Just the thought of being able to pick up just one of such routines, and not only being able to incorporate it into his move set with his Quirk, but also being able to showcase it to Mina the next time she wanted to see what he could do, was downright irresistible.
With that little detour done, Nikolay hurried to the section on music books. However, once again, there wasn't a sign of neither nor hair of Kyouka anywhere. Nikolay was almost about ready to start calling her name, regardless how many of the other customers would hear him, until he ended up catching a glimpse of a very familiar head of short purple hair inside another of the rows in the section specifically for linguistics, of all things.
Indeed, Kyouka was standing in the middle of an empty aisle, her headphones of course resting comfortably on her head and over her ears, rendering her deaf to all the outside world, just as he had pretty much been expecting.
What Nikolay hadn't been expecting, however, was that upon a curious little glimpse at the book she was poring over so intently, he was actually finding equal shares of both Japanese and Russian Cyrillic inside.
What he also didn't expect, was that Kyouka had become so involved in both the music in her ears and the book in her hands, that when she caught a glimpse of someone else standing way too close to her without her having known about it, she not only jumped back in shock, but also instinctively sent one of her earlobe audio jacks out like a whip, stabbing straight into Nikolays' right ear (a perfect fit, by the way), and sending a high-pitched helping of feedback straight into his head; bringing the young Russian boy to his knees in agony in a heartbeat.
"Oh my God! I'm so sorry, Bezpalov-san! Are you all right?! Oh, please tell me you can still hear me, okay?" Kyouka had retracted her jack from Nikolays' ear the moment she realized it was actually him she'd just retaliated against, and she was immediately on maximum overdrive with the apologies as she knelt beside him, hoping to any power in the universe that she hadn't just rendered him deaf in that ear by accident.
Nikolays' head was indeed ringing like bloody murder even well after Kyouka had withdrawn her jack, but he was at least still able to make out her apologies in his other ear right off the bat. "Yeah…yeah, I'll be okay. Maybe just don't do that again, please?"
"Yeah, sorry, again. I really need to try and not get so absorbed in what I'm doing all the time." Kyouka agreed with immense embarrassment as she helped Nikolay back onto his feet.
"Yeah, that's actually why I came. The others are all ready to go, but were worried that you hadn't come back, so I told them I'd find you." That explanation only served to leave Kyouka looking even more embarrassed, which she communicated by hurriedly trying to make an ungracious exit for the lobby at his suggestion, so they could get past this little mishap that much faster.
"Jirou-san, wait, you forgot your books!" Nikolay called back to her, bringing her to a sudden stop as he hastily handed her books back, which she hurriedly took with an awkward little nod, no longer able to look Nikolay in the eye, for some reason he couldn't fathom. After all, his real attention was just on the very books she had now clearly gathered up for herself before: the previously noted Japanese-Russian translation guide/dictionary, and a textbook on Eastern European poetic prose and music structure.
"Jirou-san…are you…actually trying to learn Russian?" Nikolay asked in astonishment, causing Kyouka to instinctively flinch in surprise at his first guess. It was only because she kept her back turned to him then, that he didn't see how heavily she'd started blushing in reaction.
"N-no…I mean, not exactly. I'm actually…well; I'm trying to figure out how to write proper Russian poetic prose…and trying to get a feel for your countries' traditional music structure. I'm just trying to expand the different kinds of music there is that I can write with." However, even if she was being completely honest in her answer, Kyouka quickly realized she had doubtless said too much, as she had unconsciously filled her Russian classmate in on one of her deepest secrets, and when she nervously looked back, she could see that feared spark of realization flash across his face as he looked at her in great surprise.
"Do you…actually write songs of your own?" he finally asked, to which Kyouka just let out an aggravated sigh, having been hoping this wouldn't have gotten out to anyone in her class; at the very least not so soon into her high school life. However, she was still realistic enough to know there was no point in denying it any further; he'd seen her reaction clear as day, and it answered his question perfectly.
And so, albeit with considerable reluctance, Kyouka proceeded to rifle through her backpack, before pulling out a small notebook, silently handing it to Nikolay, while keeping her onyx gaze focused literally anywhere else. Nikolays' curiosity kept him from seeing the intense blush still on her face as he took the notebook from her hand and proceeded to go looking through it with surprising excitement.
From one page to another, nearly the whole thing was filled with numerous homemade music sheets, and lines upon lines of what Nikolay could only naturally assume were lyric ideas, written almost continuously side-by-side in both Japanese and English, the kind he could only assume was grammatically correct, based on what few lessons on the finer details he could actually retain up to this point. "I'm guessing these are literal translations?" he asked absentmindedly, still taking in the sheer amount of work that had clearly been put into every single one of these supposedly one-page song ideas.
For her less than talkative demeanor, especially in her currently persisting embarrassment, Kyoukas' answer came surprisingly succinct: "Y-yeah, more or less. English was actually one of my favorite subjects throughout middle school. Listening to a lot of English-language music with my parents also definitely helped. It honestly just kinda comes naturally to me at this point."
As he finally handed the notebook back to her, a smile of realization began forming on Nikolays' face, gaining Kyoukas' attention and reluctant curiosity what was on his mind. "You know, Jirou-san, maybe we could set up some kind of studying arrangement, if you're interested, of course. I could try to help you figure out how to write the proper Russian poetic prose you're looking for, at least where I know that I can, and in exchange, maybe you could help me with figuring out how all those rules for conversational English actually work. I mean, I'm barely hanging on by a thread in English as it is. This kind of setup has got to be more effective than just trying to figure it out from a bunch of books, at least."
He was honestly half-expecting Kyouka to decline from the start. It wasn't like she was the social butterfly type like so many of their other classmates. However, he was pleasantly surprised when she actually gave him an agreeing nod with an at-least intrigued smile. "Okay, yeah, I can work with that. And, if it's all the same to you, if you think it would be easier, I wouldn't mind just learning some conversational Russian, and figure out the prose from there. That would already be half the linguistic battle fought and won as it is. Besides, if the Hero thing doesn't work out, I've always got music to fall back on. Who knows; if I manage to make it big on that route instead, it certainly wouldn't hurt to be able to talk with fans, interviewers and promoters in as many different languages as possible, would it?" Nikolay, likewise, couldn't help but smile with his own eagerness, more than happy to see she was willing to help him out as much, as he nodded in agreement with her rhetorical question.
With that, they finally started making their way back for the lobby, a much more eager air about Kyouka at last. "You know, I'm surprised you haven't actually made this same kind of offer with Ashido yet, Bezpalov-san. With how much time you two are around each other, I would've thought you'd have done so a long time ago."
There was a distinctly regretful snicker from Nikolay that answered Kyoukas' offhand remarks. "Yeah, you would think so. But I don't want to waste both our time inviting Mina to do so if she isn't interested. She's the kind of person who expresses, loud and clear, when and if she wants something, no matter what it is. She hasn't told me she's wanted to learn it, and she hasn't asked, which kind of tells me she's not interested."
As clearly disappointed as Nikolay sounded, he was obviously surprised to see Kyouka actually giving him a smirk that couldn't help but communicate confidence on her own part. "You know, Ashido could also just be waiting for you to break the ice and extend the invitation, yourself. She's roped me into more than a few of the conversations she's had with the other girls. She's told us how one of the things she really wants to do, is to help you become more and more sociable and willing to approach and open up to others. It seems to me like you taking the step forward to actually invite her to learn your language of your own accord fits that bill pretty spot-on."
To Kyoukas' subdued delight, Nikolay actually seemed to be considering doing exactly that. This would certainly put an even greater bounce in Minas' step, she was all but certain of it. However, that same grey cloud of doubt took its place over Nikolays' head, as he let out another regretful sigh. "I'd love to do that, Jirou-san. Look at me, you know that I would. It's just that we're both barely hanging onto English as it is. With the final exams coming up, the last thing either of us needs is to get distracted from one of the classes we actually have, in order to focus on something that, unfortunately, is only a want, instead of a need. Maybe now isn't the best time for it, after all."
Kyouka simply rolled her eyes as she proceeded on her way, spurring him to follow suit. "Look, I'm not telling you what or what not to do, Bezpalov-san. All I'm saying is that you should at least keep it in mind when we don't have these exams hanging over our heads, that's all."
Nikolay silently resolved that he would do exactly that once these damned exams were finally over and done with. Perhaps their time at the forest lodge, assuming they would do well enough to actually make it there, would be the perfect opportunity for him to actually extend that offer to her. He could only hope that Kyouka was actually right, and Mina was simply waiting for him to make the first move. The last thing he wanted was to get himself hyped up, only for her to break it easy to him that she just wasn't interested.
From there, he and Kyouka finally reunited with Tenya, Momo and Rikido, all with their intended books in hand. Once they had done what they needed to, they filed back out onto the street, and proceeded to finally make their respective ways home, ready to finally start committing themselves to final exam preparation. If nothing else, at least today had given Nikolay the perspective he so desperately needed in order to understand just how much of his own pre-planning mindset he actually needed to work on, inside and outside his Hero studies and Quirk capabilities, if he was really going to measure up and ultimately be the best kind of Hero he could be.
Plus, the planting of a new idea of how he and Mina could spend more time together wasn't a half bad takeaway, either.
Friday, June 21st
"Okay, it looks like the bleeding has at least slowed down. Just hold still and we'll get that plugged right back up. I'll bet it'll have finally stopped by the time we get home, just you wait." Minas' words were dripping with reassurance as she tried to focus on getting the two pieces of tissue paper she had on hand, rolled up and fit firmly into Nikolays' currently bleeding nostrils, as they and Eijirou stood just outside the entrance of Yuuei, resolving to take their foreign friend back home once school had gotten out for the day. As she had said, Eijirou could tell Nikolays' nose wasn't bleeding as bad as it had been, but it was still going, and she wasn't about to leave that unattended for a moment.
For their last class of the day, their test had been to test their abilities in distance assault, and projectile defense. Two students would be pitted against each other as attacker and defender, and the goal was to either bring down their opponent, or try to get one projectile past them while they served as a one-person wall. The theme was that a Hero needs to be able to protect people from all threats big and small in the heat of a situation, and one misstep could cause a piece of rubble or an explosive or any other such thing to get to the people they were trying to keep safe, killed.
While some of the students couldn't help but point out that this was essentially an extreme version of either dodge ball or tennis, the test carried on regardless. There were definitely a fair number of students that were practically made for both sides of this test, managing themselves beautifully in both offense and defense. Fumikages' Dark Shadow made it pretty much impossible for anything to reach or get past him, as did Tenyas' speed and reflexes and Kyoukas' extendable earlobe jacks.
Toorus' invisibility made it impossible for her opponents to know where to aim to hit her, but it also didn't really help in her ability to try and keep any objects from getting past her. Yugas' laser provided some great offense and relatively decent defense, but his time limit on consistent use proved to be his own undoing.
Tsuyus' prehensile tongue and impressive leaping ability made her a powerhouse on both fields, as did Minas' Acid manage to make for a great means of projectile attack, especially accompanied with the speed of her acid slick, as well as a perfect means of defense, simply aiming and throwing to dissolve anything thrown her way.
Of course, there were some students that didn't manage so well. Izuku was still trying to get the perfect hang of his newly developed full-body extension of his Quirk and its subsequent hopping ability it gave him. The only problem was his opponent being able to plan and think for themselves ended up keeping him from being able to predict where they were going to throw all the time, thus resulting in a few misses.
Eijirous' Hardening of course removed the threat of him being taken down, but it still added nothing to his speed, so he ended up letting more than his fair share of projectiles end up getting past him.
However, even among the students who didn't do as well, none of them ended up coming out worse than Nikolay ultimately did, and that was simply for the fact of just who he was unfortunate enough to be paired up against: Katsuki Bakugo.
No matter how much Nikolay tried to focus his aim in a means to try and fake Bakugo out so he could get one of his own projectiles past him, Bakugos' mastery of his Explosion Quirk was unparalleled. There was no possible means of getting anything past him; it was like he had the entire range scouted. And that wasn't even taking into account what it was like when it was his turn for offense.
Nikolay thought Bakugo had been intimidating and violent enough from the outside, but now that he was the sole focus of the blonde hotheads' aggression, it was something else entirely. From the beginning it was like he was toying with the Russian, not even using his Quirk to throw things at the Russian, hard. However, once he finally took the metaphorical kids gloves off and started propelling them with his Explosions, it was pretty much over. They were flying at terminal velocity, too fast for Nikolay to be able to predict their directions and effectively deflect them.
But when it came to the ones he was actually aiming to hit Nikolay with; that was once again, something else. Every single one that Nikolay failed to deflect hit him with enough force to knock every ounce of wind out of him. It was definitely no surprise that he was looking at some considerable bruising all over his arms, legs and torso once he got out of his P.E. uniform after class, since those that didn't inherently have projectiles to their Quirks were simply given softballs to use as their weapons. Had it been anything harder, Nikolay probably would have been looking at multiple cracked or broken ribs.
However, for as lucky as he begrudgingly considered himself in that regard, it didn't change the fact that just before the end of their specific run, Bakugo had decided to put the finishing touch by throwing an accelerated ball straight at Nikolays' head; two in fact, for the specific purpose of if Nikolay was lucky enough to deflect the first, he wouldn't be able to react fast enough for the second.
And that was exactly what had happened, and that was why Nikolay was now sporting an already bruising nose, with the lower half of his face a lighter shade of red from the blood he and Mina had now spent the last five minutes trying to clear away so she could plug his nose up to keep him from bleeding all over himself any more.
"That big bully; I'd say I can't believe he'd do that, but then I'd be lying. You know, I wouldn't be so mad if he'd just apologized at least." Mina was, for the first time that Nikolay or even Eijirou could recall, genuinely fuming as she tried her best to not aggravate the pain on Nikolays' face any more than she already had, before finally giving a sigh of relief once she was sure the tissues would stay in place and help staunch Nikolays' bleeding.
Indeed, when it had become clear the damage he had wrought on 1-A's one foreign student; even when several of the students were demanding he at least apologize, all Bakugo had for him was yet more scolding insults: "All that big talk of how he improves with his Quirk, and his defense is still shit. If that's as good as he is at reacting to what someone throws his way, then he won't last a year."
"Yeah, a cheap shot like that isn't the manly thing to do. While Bakugo is actually kind of cool in some ways, he really isn't in a lot of others. You sure you're feeling alright, Kolya-san?" Eijirou surprisingly agreed, while Nikolay was thankful the tissues in his nose seemed to be at least muffling some of the pain.
"Yeah…yeah, it's sore, but I'm okay. I'll definitely be feeling it tomorrow, that's beyond question. Let's just be glad Bakugo didn't break it, instead." Nikolay tried to reassure his two friends as he began pacing his way back home with them at his sides, ready to just let this relatively bad day end already.
"But he's right, though. Ever since that Rescue Race, I've been trying to figure out how to be able to plan around what somebody else does that goes against whatever plan I've got. I've tried reading what my opponent will do, or whatever else in the environment goes on around me so I can plan a way to react. I've even tried branching out in my training so I can refresh and improve on the moves I've been neglecting. I've been doing that for the last few weeks, and this is all it's gotten me. I don't know what else to do! In the end, all it takes is one well-aimed hit on me, and I crumple like a house of cards!"
Mina and Eijirou exchanged worrisome glances with each other, both able to clearly feel the growing frustration Nikolay was going through. Luckily they were both right on it, as Mina hurried to keep his pace, holding his hand in hers as gently yet supportively as she knew how; one thing she had come to learn could always ease him back up. At the same time, Eijirou was keeping pace on his other side, resting a reassuring arm upon his shoulder.
"Try not to beat yourself up over it, man. Don't forget, Bakugo's been mastering his Quirk nonstop for years. Honestly, I doubt any one of us would've stood a better chance against him than you did." However, as much as she could tell Eijirou was trying his best to help Nikolay not feel like such a failure, Mina still couldn't keep her own opinion on it to herself.
"That still doesn't mean he should be so mean to everybody, though. The name-calling is bad enough, but it's like he's got no ability to just chill out every once in a while. It's like all he ever wants to do is shout and beat people up. Ishouldbekickinghisassforwhathedid…"
While Mina clearly was intentionally mumbling that last part primarily for herself, especially since she had her cheeks puffed out in that familiar childish pout she sometimes had, Nikolay and Eijirou both heard it loud and clear, looking at their mutual female friend with visible surprise. "Damn, Ashido, I don't think I've ever heard you actually get that mad at somebody before. I was starting to think nobody could get you thinking like that. It's kinda scary, honestly."
Instead of the typical embarrassment, Mina surprisingly stood her ground, looking at both her friends with clearly pained emotion in her eyes. "Well, can you blame me, Kiri? Now that stupid explosion nut's hurt both of my best friends! You can't really expect me to just sit down and do nothing, can you?"
"Mina, nobody said anything about that, but we all know if you tried fighting Bakugo, you'd just end up in the same boat as us. He's just too skilled for the three of us. That's precisely why I've been trying to focus on expanding my thinking these last few weeks, precisely so that the next time me and him are put up against each other, I'd actually have something of a shot. We should really all be trying to work on that." Nikolay explained, hoping to help talk down Minas' ultra-rare flare of indignant anger, before just as quickly lowering down to reflecting on his own lack of progress while Mina simply looked at him, likewise in regret for his own loss.
"Well…if I can't get back at Bakugo with fighting…maybe I could find a way to prank him when he's not looking. I haven't done something that fun in a while, now that I'm thinking on it. Maybe I could fill his outdoor shoes with glue when they're in his shoe locker, or set up a glitter bomb under his seat when he's not there. I'm sure I could get Tooru-chan or Kaminari-kun to help out with that."
Eijirou let out a sigh of deep relief that Mina had been managed to be brought back to her typically fun-loving self, but he was likewise quick to see Nikolay was getting stuck in his own head again. "Hey, Kolya-san, seriously, it's not the end of the world that you lost today, okay? I mean, at least your Quirk has the potential for awesome offense and defense. All that my Quirk can do is make it so I don't get KO'd with one well-enough-aimed hit. Hardly does anything for my aim, let alone protecting a whole bunch of people behind me if it comes from anywhere but head-on, does it?"
Thankfully, Nikolay was more than willing to take his mind off of earlier, now that Eijirou had decided to fill the silence. "No, I guess it doesn't. But at least your Quirk keeps you from getting hurt at all."
However, to this, Eijirou could only give a sarcastic-sounding laugh in response. "Yeah, I wish that were true. Yeah, it keeps me from getting as hurt as anybody else, but I still feel that impact, regardless. Those explosions Bakugo threw at me during the tournament still hurt like hell. That threshold for pain is what I've been trying to work on most, myself. I mean, being able to withstand a beating is one of the most basically manly things a Hero can do, right?"
All this question did was leave Nikolay looking considerably perplexed, if not troubled. "It's strange how we never stop to think about that part. Yeah, our Quirks make us powerful, some more than others, and yet they're still just as capable of hurting us as they are of protecting us, just like they're as capable of hurting others as they are protecting others, just like Thirteen-sensei told us at USJ.
"I mean, just look at Midoriya-san nearly every time he's used his. And then there's that scar you got the very first time your Quirk even came out, Kirishima-san. And then look at me! I used my Quirk in that fight with Vukodlak so many times in so many different ways, I fractured the hell out of my arms, all but destroyed a finger I'd already broken, re-dislocated my shoulder, and nearly fractured my legs. And then both times I ever used that Quirk-enhanced shout, I left my ears bleeding afterward."
Eijirou was solemnly nodding in agreement with every sentence. It wasn't a pleasant thing for young aspiring Heroes to think about, the possibility of hurting themselves with the same powers that inspired them to begin with. Alas, that was simply another of the hard lessons Yuuei was trying to help them learn so they could be both strong and smart.
"You're right, Kolya-kun. People can get so used to their Quirks, but it can end up hurting them if they get too cocky…and it almost always ends up hurting at the start. I should know." Minas' confession brought Nikolay and Eijirou alike to a stop, both boys looking at the now frankly embarrassed pink girl beside them with surprise.
"You actually hurt yourself through your Quirk, Ashido? But…you're, like, one of the most adept with your Quirk out of the whole class, almost right up there with Todoroki and Bakugo." "Yeah; besides, with your Quirk being Acid, if it really hurt you like you're saying, I would've thought you'd have acid burns on your hands and feet, or something." Despite Eijirou and Nikolays' insistence, Mina didn't try to play as though she were simply humoring them, showing complete seriousness in a very rare moment.
"No, I started out just like both of you guys, like everybody. I mean, yeah, my body's always had a natural tolerance for my Acid, so no chemical burns or anything like that. But when I first tried making acid that was stronger than my default…I guess you could compare it to being like when you put your hand in really hot water, you know? So I just figured I had to strengthen my acid a lot more gradually, instead of just trying to see how strong I could make it right at the get-go. That's been working pretty good for me, so far. Haven't ended up burning myself nearly so bad in a while, at least."
Nikolay and Eijirou both nodded in quiet understanding of Minas' point. They were all in such a mental and emotional rush to get as strong as they could be that they had forgotten just how important it was to pace themselves, for their own sakes. It couldn't help but make Nikolay give a silent, mental snicker of remorse to himself, that he'd let himself neglect something so simple yet essential to life in general.
However, seeing the contemplative looks on her two friends' faces, Mina silently resolved something to herself, strengthening her hold on Nikolays' hand in order to get their attention back. "You know what? We shouldn't end today like this. Yeah, it could've been worse; at least Kolya-kuns' nose didn't get broken. But still, we should end our day doing something nice together."
"You're not thinking of a shopping trip or the arcade again, are you? I'm strapped for money right now." "Yeah, and I ended up going through the allowance Dad gave me the first time we went there." Mina could only laugh at how both boys were trying to immediately get on the same page as her as she amusedly shook her head.
"No, nothing like that. I was thinking, why don't we all just sit back and enjoy a movie at Kolya-kuns' house together? Something fun we could all enjoy, like a musical or something." As into the idea as Mina clearly was, Eijirou for once didn't try to hide the hint of discomfort on his face.
"I don't know, Ashido, musicals aren't exactly what one would call 'manly'." Mina just rolled her eyes in further amusement at how her red-haired friend was still trying to maintain the overly macho front, in front of the two people in their whole class he didn't need to.
"Aw, don't think of it like that, Kiri. I'm sure if you watched closely, you might come up with some moves of your own from all the dancing they do. That ought to help you be more mobile while still using your Quirk if we do this test again anytime soon." To her delight, Eijirou actually seemed to be seeing her point, as he started nodding in realization to himself.
From there, she then stepped in to look Nikolay in the eye, likewise. "Same goes for you, too, Kolya-kun. You just might pick up a few more dance moves than you've already got. That sounds more than worth it, if you ask me." As she began to take the lead, still leading Nikolay by the hand, his mind couldn't help but think back. "I was that lacking in variety back at the arcade, huh? Like I said, I hadn't danced in years when we did that."
Without even missing a step, and now having a pronounced peppy bounce to it, Mina answered without even looking back: "Nope, it's not about that. Kyouka-chan told me and the rest of the girls that you went and bought a book on…Eastern European folk dances, I think was what she said, at the bookstore last week. I just knew you wouldn't be able to resist getting yourself back up to snuff after how much fun we had at the arcade."
There was an undeniable air of feeling flattered, as well as overjoyed, in Minas' voice at having heard this news. It couldn't help but make Nikolay blush quite heavily. "I-it's not really about that, I just w-wanted to see if I could find a routine that would work well with my Quirk next time we do a test like the one today."
However, this didn't dissuade Mina from her course for a moment; that same irresistible sunny smile on her happy face. "So what's the harm in picking up an extra routine this way outside of all those books? Besides, wouldn't it be nice if you could be able to dance in a way that helps you in a situation…and that would just be lots of fun for us to be able to work off of together?"
Nikolay, for once, couldn't find anything to break her surprisingly strong reasoning; and that momentary silence and glimmer of acquiescence in his eyes had Mina giggling in adorable excitement as she took both his hands in her own this time, bouncing on her heels before turning right back around and all but hopping cheerfully the rest of the way with Nikolay and Eijirou following in tandem.
"Hey, you guys, wait up a second!" The voice of Ochako calling out to the trio from back up the road brought them to a surprised stop, looking back to see her, Kyouka and Izuku hurrying over to catch up; she and Izuku both looking fairly eager, while Kyouka had the same emotionally distant look in her eyes in comparison.
"Are you both taking Kolya-kun home, Mina-chan? Would it be okay if we came with you?" Ochako immediately asked, to which Minas' excited smile somehow only became even more so.
"Are you kidding? The more the merrier, Urara-chan! We were actually getting ready to stick around and watch musicals together! You guys are more than welcome to come with!" The mention of their plans made Kyouka visibly perk up in interest, same for Ochako as well, while Eijirou couldn't keep his own curiosity to himself.
"You guys all seemed pretty focused on something on your way over. Were you all planning on swinging by regardless?" The bluntness of his question couldn't help but make their three new companions chuckle in mutual embarrassment at how obvious they clearly were.
"Well, Uraraka-san and I were talking, and we seem to be having similar difficulties with some of the material for the next Quirk History test next week, so we thought maybe Tunguska-sensei, or Bezpalov-san, if he had been keeping up-to-date on it, would be willing to maybe give us a little tutoring in preparation."
Kyoukas' explanation was instantly followed by Ochako, of course speaking far more animatedly than she'd been hoping she would. "Right! Plus with the final exams coming up in a couple weeks, chances are we'll be going over material from all our classes, so this sounded like a good way of getting a head start, at least to sharpen ourselves up for it."
"What about you, Midoriya-san? Something tells me you're not exactly in need of tutoring, yourself." Eijirou asked their green-haired underdog, who instinctively looked to his yellow backpack, drawing a curious glance from Nikolay.
"Oh, well, Tunguska-sensei has been helping me out with some personal training alongside All Might, and there were just some details about some pointers he gave me during our last session I was hoping he could clarify for me, that's all."
The idea that Izuku was getting one-on-one training from two super manly Heroes left Eijirou looking childishly envious, but as for Nikolay, his mind had been diverted elsewhere by Ochakos' wayward commentary. "Hey, I'd nearly forgotten! Mina, Kirishima-san, have either of you actually started studying for the final exams yet? They're officially less than two weeks away now!"
The sudden shift in tone in his voice made it clear to Mina and Eijirou just how much more serious their Russian friend was about this than before, and that was what made them both answer with a deeply ashamed silence. And, of course, that silence, and their subsequent bowing of their heads, told Nikolay everything he needed to hear, and none of it was what he had been hoping to.
Surprisingly, the young Slav said nothing. He didn't even bow his head in disappointment like he usually did with himself. Instead, his green eyes seemed to just be staring forward, beyond some unseen horizon, and he didn't like what he was seeing, just judging by the morose look on his face. Of course, this kind of expression sent saddened chills through all his friends that saw it, as well.
"Hey, Kolya-kun, please don't look so sad, it's okay. We've still got enough time to—"That's not what I'm upset about, Mina." His swift interruption of her typical attempts to reassure him, left everyone visibly surprised; he almost never did that kind of thing with anyone, let alone one of his closest, if not the closest friend he had out of all of them.
"It's just that…you know how hard we both worked to get through all those detention periods; it was hell. And when we finally got out, and both our grades had actually gone up even a little bit because of it, I don't know about you, but I was thrilled. But now we have this exam coming, and I'm really worried about our grades slipping and us ending up in remedial school over the summer."
Mina and the others could all easily understand exactly where Nikolay was coming from, and she was even just about to try and cheer him up her own way again, simply thinking it wouldn't be so bad if they were going through it together again. However, Nikolay was far from finished, as he grabbed as gently as he could onto the hand she was about to put on his shoulder, to her visible surprise.
"I've been trying my hardest to maintain my grades since then…and I've been trying to brush up on everything I thought I was struggling with, just so I could be a little ready when the exams come, because I want to go to the forest lodge for the summer with everyone, just as much as everybody else. And knowing how close it all is now, and knowing neither you or Kirishima-san are studying for it at all…it just makes me sad, because I really wanted to experience it with you guys, especially, and now I'm feeling like that's not going to happen at all, and you're gonna be stuck in remedial all summer."
Nikolays' voice actually began to crack by the time he'd reached his end, and the sound of that struck Mina and Eijirou harder than anything, even more than if he had started to shed tears. If anything, just to hear his perspective on how much he had wanted what they did as well, only for him to now see how much their own lack of action was risking that, made a switch go off in both their heads.
Minas' eyes sunk to the ground in thoughtfulness as she ran it all through her head. She wanted to go to the forest lodge with everyone more than anything in the world, to be able to strengthen the friendships she'd already made, and maybe even make some new ones in the process. Those kinds of things were what summer memories were practically made for. And yet, as she and Eijirou both realized of themselves, they were both so focused on just living from moment to moment, trying to have as much fun as possible all the time and doing what they wanted, that it was essentially blinding them from what they knew deep down they needed to focus on in order to even make those potentially wonderful summer memories even happen.
Mina felt especially terrible now, knowing that for everything she had done to try and help Nikolay open up and become as sociable as possible, while only ever further strengthening their friendship every step of the way, she was now on a course for potentially ruining one of the best experiences the two of them could possibly ever have together. If she hadn't still had the wherewithal to not make more of a scene than they already were, she would've wanted to start crying for how unknowingly selfish she had been over these last two weeks, in the grand scheme of things.
"You're right, Kolya-san! You're absolutely right! I've been really lax on studying, during a time when I shouldn't be! It's one of the oldest sayings there is: 'a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do', and right now that's exactly what I have to do! If I were to just sit on it and end up in remedial school, I'd be letting all of us down, and I'm not about to let that happen!" Eijirous' declaration was made with all the sincerity and earnest, masculine bravado he could physically manifest on his own; his own voice wrought with pure emotion as well.
"Hell no; me neither, Kolya-kun! I'm giving you another Mina Ashido promise, first thing tomorrow, I'm gonna start studying hard, too! I want us all to go to that lodge together, and if burying my face in books for an entire week and sacrificing all those chances at fun are what it'll take…then dammit, that's what I'm going to do!" Mina didn't even wait for Nikolay to answer before she stepped forward, her body language just radiating sincerity and seriousness, as she hooked her pinky finger around his own in a show of pure solidarity, before just as quickly hooking her other around Eijirous' as well, effectively tying the three of them in a single solemn oath.
And all the while, Kyouka couldn't help but look upon the whole thing a bit awkwardly, considering all three of their respective expressions a touch overdramatic, while Izuku and Ochako couldn't help but feel personally moved by such a swift yet deeply rooted declaration of unity between their trio of mutual friends.
Once they finally separated, Nikolay took a deep breath to recompose himself, looking Mina and Eijirou square in the eye with a now much more relaxed and grateful smile just barely gracing his face. "I guess it goes without saying you're both kinda cutting it close…but at least we all know none of us will be winging it anymore. So, first thing tomorrow…let's take this damn exam on and get to that forest lodge!"
Mina practically leaped in the air as she and Eijirou both likewise cheered alongside him in agreement, before now all six of them continued on the rest of the way to Nikolays' house, all similarly driven to reach that same distant goal point together.
Things got rolling rather quickly once they had all finally made it to Nikolays' house. Of course, the sight of Nikolays' busted nose had set Olegs' temper into motion, even though he had already been informed of the incident earlier by All Might. Of course, the combined reassurances of Nikolay and all five of his gathered friends had been enough to calm the towering man back down again, even if Nikolay could tell his father wasn't about to let it go, or let Bakugo off easy, anytime soon.
However, once that issue had been confronted and resolved, Ochako and Kyouka were quick to inform the Quirk History teacher of their mutual desire for tutoring in preparation for the class test and the final exam alike; a request he was of course more than happy to oblige. As for Izukus' approach about training clarification, Oleg simply promised he would make the time tonight for them to discuss it one-on-one, once again earning the very slight envy from Eijirou, who couldn't help but overhear them speak of it.
Unfortunately, for as willing as Oleg was to try tutoring his students on Quirk History and any other general education subjects they were struggling with, it soon became apparent that when it came to more numerical-based subject matter like science and mathematics, Oleg was frankly too far out of his element. It was ultimately decided that not only would the students have to approach their respective teachers, or better yet their class representatives for tutoring aid in such fields, but that they would almost definitely need to make a point of staying late at school in order to have the time necessary to put in the studying they would need to really give themselves an advantage.
After all, come Monday, they would only have one week until the day of the fated final exams. And the fact that none of them still had any specific ideas on what the exam itself was going to entail, did not help.
However, before any of them could officially start occupying themselves with nose-to-the-grindstone studying, Mina once again threw out the idea of them all simply enjoying their last night of true freedom before the exams with another movie night, since Nikolay and Oleg were officially their hosts; a sentiment they were all thankfully on board with.
Before anything could be decided, though, Nikolay had hurriedly excused himself so he could finally get back into something more comfortable than his uniform. Getting out of it was a bit more cumbersome than usual, thanks to the aching pain of the bruises adorning his arms and torso.
"Kolya-san, are you decent in there?" Izukus' voice had suddenly asked through the bedroom door, making Nikolay jump in surprise as he hurriedly tried to get a t-shirt and pants on. "Now I am. Is there something you need, Midoriya-san?"
"Yeah, could I come inside real quick? There's something I wanted to talk to you about." Nikolay was admittedly curious; he and Izuku had unfortunately never really had many times of speaking solely to each other, since the boy was always so studious and involved in other things, least of which being his duel-training with Oleg and All Might.
As soon as Izuku stepped inside, he was quick to notice the considerably stiff way in which Nikolay was moving, in comparison to how he normally was. Thankfully, he didn't need to guess why. "Kacchan really went all out on you, huh?"
"Yeah, I know you saw it like everybody else did, Midoriya-san. Ever since the Rescue Race, I've been trying to find new ways of planning and thinking, trying to focus on numerous elements and possibilities at once, and coming up with a number of strategies to go with them. But today has left me thinking that I'm still looking at it all wrong, but I don't know what else to do. I try to plan for as many different strategies as I can, but the instant anything lands a hit on me, all that planning goes out the window, and I fumble and lose. I keep thinking Bakugo isn't going to just let me off easy, and if I don't do something or come up with something that can counteract whatever he has in store for me, he's just going to get worse and worse. I thought I was finally starting to get past feeling powerless like this."
Nikolay was surprised he was managing to keep his tone this calm, despite how visibly frustrated he was getting, expressing the seeming fruitlessness of his efforts all over again. However, instead of looking awkward at being the sole witness of this little venting period, Izuku instead looked and nodded at his Russian classmate and friend with deep understanding. "I know exactly what you mean. I felt like that around Kacchan for way longer than you know. But no matter how powerless I was around him, I didn't let that stop me from at least observing how he acts and fights, in case I ever found myself in a situation that called for it. I mean, you saw the Battle Trial like the rest of the class did, that was primarily the only reason I was able to stand up against him as long as I did."
Nikolay couldn't help but feel a hit of nostalgia, just thinking back to those trials at the start of the year. It was insane how it felt like it happened so much more long ago than just nearly two months. However, for as glad as he still felt, knowing Izuku had ultimately triumphed, it still did nothing for what he himself was feeling about his own loss at that explosive sociopaths' hands.
However, Izuku could see that somber look still in Nikolays' eye, and he was already on it as he began approaching him with an intent look in his own green eyes. "Between you and me, just in case you and Kacchan ever find yourselves on opposing sides again, I think you should keep in mind: when it comes to strategizing, Kacchan insists on always being the one in control of the entire situation, including the opposing side. His entire way of thinking is about relentless aggression.
"So you just need to remember that his actions and moves are all about forcing the other pieces on the field to do exactly what he wants them to, primarily out of sheer intimidation. When he comes charging at you with his explosions, or throws anything at you, just remember that he's counting on you panicking and therefore moving in the way he wants you to. He has the reaction all pictured in his head, so you just need to keep that in mind, try to imagine the reaction he's expecting…and just try to remind yourself to do the opposite of that, even if it may come across as insane to you, as well. If you can somehow maintain your ability to act outside what Kacchan is already envisioning, go against his perfect mental rehearsal of the fight…then you'll be able to maintain an advantage over him. At least, that's what I've come to understand from seeing him in action so many times…and being on the receiving end of it more than once."
Nikolay couldn't hide the impression in his eyes if he tried. Clearly Izuku had put more than a couple months worth of observation and theorizing into this, and the fact he was going this far to actually fill Nikolay in on his observations as well, left the Russian boy feeling, frankly, honored. "Okay, so two things to keep in mind from now on in regards to Bakugo: that…and he always leads in with punching with his right hand."
At this, both boys couldn't help but start laughing in genuine amusement with each other, a real first for them alone. Much like having gotten to know Rikido Sato a little better last week, this solitary moment also felt quite nice.
Once they had regained their breath, Izuku fidgeted in realization, as he began rummaging through his backpack. "You know, since you mentioned the Rescue Race earlier, Kolya-san, there was actually something I wanted to give you. I've been working on this since then pretty extensively."
Just as Nikolay was about to inform his green-haired friend how unnecessary it was to give him a gift, he was soon presented with a handful of papers from Izuku, who looked quite serious about the Russian boy taking it. Not wanting to appear ungrateful, Nikolay finally took them, and as he began looking through them, he realized he was looking upon page after page, top-to-bottom, front-and-back, of notes detailing the most minute observations and details of the mechanics of his own Quirk, with numerous marked theories and ideas sprinkled throughout.
When he looked to Izuku in disbelief, silently expressing his desire to know what the boy was thinking, he proceeded to explain: "Ever since I saw you try to maintain that whole 'running on air' trick with your Quirk at the Rescue Race, it got me thinking back on everything else I've seen you do so far, and basing it all on what we know about how exactly your Quirk functions and how it builds up power. A lot of it is just my theories on the basic foundation of it, as well as some ideas I had on what you could potentially be able to do with it if you were to put enough training and focus into it. I thought you might find some of it pretty exciting and worth testing out when you got the chance."
As Nikolay began reading through the notes again, this time Izuku couldn't resist stepping in beside him to point out some of the finer details, with some considerable excitement of his own. "Yeah, this one I'm particularly confident you could be able to do. Since your Quirk is all about dispensing kinetic energy through vibrations, and it dispenses it with enough force in open air to move yourself and other people and objects, I can't imagine you wouldn't be able to produce some pretty powerful shockwave-based attacks through solid surfaces if you were to put your hands or feet flush to it and just anchor yourself properly when you fire off. It could make for good shockwave attacks, and if you were to plan ahead and have a bunch of loose objects or liquid scattered around, you could send that all into the air and make for a pretty effective environmental distraction or stunning maneuver in case you were outnumbered."
Thinking back, Nikolay suddenly remembered something that brought a smile of realization to his face. "Yeah…yeah, you're right, I can do that, I've already done it by accident once before. One of the Villains that attacked me back at USJ, I launched myself into the air to avoid his attack, but we were in loose, powdery snow, and firing my hands straight into the ground sent it all up in this blinding flurry that sent the guy tumbling. I can't believe I didn't think of testing that out more, making sure it wasn't just a lucky fluke on my end."
His newfound excitement was pleasingly infectious, as Izuku began flipping through a few more pages before pointing out yet another of the sections marked as theories: "And this one I thought you'd find especially interesting. I remember back at that impromptu party at the end of our first week, when you…well, you know…anyway, when you let out that Quirk-enhanced shout of yours, I had been thinking about it a lot recently, and the more I thought back on it, the more I realized it didn't emanate just from your throat, but from your entire body, almost as if your body in and of itself was an amplifier.
"So with that thought in mind, I've been thinking…what would be stopping you from being able to try and focus a release of your kinetic energy from your body in general, from the moment you got hit with something? I mean, we can both agree that your Quirk essentially makes your body serve as a single shock absorber. You absorb vibrations and their subsequent energy from sound, friction, movement and impact, especially solid impact and not just the air.
"So, I imagine that if you were to anticipate getting hit in a specific place and focus right at the moment of impact, you could essentially take in that kinetic energy, and then focus it right back out in a retaliating blast. Think of it like one of those big swinging punching bags: you hit it, and the force sends it reeling back, but then that same momentum ultimately send its swinging right back to hit you with just as much force. I mean, it's not like it would keep you from ever getting hurt again, but I would imagine it would make for a really effective means of automatic retaliatory offense, or at least help mitigate a good portion of the damage you would normally take. Again, this is very up in the air and based on a lot of guesswork, but I figured it would be worth putting out there if you'd want to try testing it out."
The look on Nikolays' face was awestruck, plain and simple. To hear just how much thought Izuku had put into these ideas he had never once even stopped to consider, nearly made him want to bow down at his freckled friends' feet and hail him as a quirk-training genius. "For so long I've been tormenting myself trying to figure out ways to brush up on the aspects of my Quirk I'd been neglecting, while perfecting my capabilities with the portions I'm actually confident in, and there were still such possibilities out there completely beyond my consideration. Outside perspective really is one of the most essential things a person can get."
Of course, he then looked back to the very notes he was still clutching in his hand, a warm and appreciative smile finally tugging at the corners of his mouth as he looked Izuku in the eye. "I'll just come out and say that I'm honored you want to give me these, Midoriya-san. Uraraka-san and Iida-san have mentioned how much you write down notes about everyone elses' Quirks in that notebook of yours. I feel like I'm being handed something practically sacred right now, to be honest."
Surprisingly, Izuku just shook his head, as though trying to play it cool, despite being given such praise that was honestly leaving him quite embarrassed deep down. "Well, actually, those are copies I made of the original notes I took. I just feel like…well, I consider us to kind of be friends, even if we don't spend really any time outside of school together, especially not to the degree like you do with Ashido-san and Kirishima-san. With that in mind, I thought you could really do with having some outside suggestions on how you could potentially improve with your Quirk; maybe even to the degree you could also keep Kacchan on his toes."
The two boys immediately started chuckling in mutual hopeful agreement as Nikolay took care to tuck his now-personal notes in the shelf of the nightstand next to his bed, where he would always know where it was. Having now discussed everything there was to discuss about the young Russians' current issue, Izuku felt the need to at least get one last passing thought out in the open between them. "You know, taking into consideration everything you said about trying to focus on perfecting the parts you're good at, while also having other parts you've knowingly neglected? If I had to sum up what your current status is as a student trying to figure out and master his Quirk, I'd say that right now, you're like a considerably-sized meal inside a fully 360-degree heating microwave.
"However, not all of the lamps inside are working, so therefore there are some parts of you that are getting all the developing heat you need, while others are being left only partially touched upon, which causes a grave imbalance in the quality of the meal as a whole. However, since you seem to already know the need to regain that balance, you're already going down the right track towards giving yourself as a whole, the entire serving of heat you need to reach your real peak in terms of skill and strength."
Izukus' explanation only made perfect sense to himself, but when he saw the mildly confused look in Nikolays' sideways glance, he realized just how bizarre that had to sound. "Sorry. I get that microwave metaphors aren't exactly what a studying Hero thinks of at any given time. It's an example All Might gave me in terms of knowing how to focus my Quirk enough to the point I don't keep crippling myself every time I use it. Then my internship mentor, Gran Torino, just added further onto it. I certainly didn't expect it at first, but it's kind of become my thing as far as training metaphors go."
Once the two boys had finally rejoined everyone else in the living room, Nikolay was shocked to find Oleg and Kyouka sitting together at the dining room table, with his father poring over a multitude of papers, that Nikolay quickly realized were filled with attempts at Cyrillic upon looking closer. "Kolya, come take a look at this. Malenkaya Jirou has been dipping her toes into trying to learn Russian on her own. Incredible."
Admittedly unable to resist the urge to see how his purple-haired classmate was currently faring in the time since the bookstore, Nikolay began perusing as well, while Kyouka was just barely squirming with embarrassment, not the least of which because Mina, Eijirou, Ochako and Izuku were now watching the proceedings with some anticipating smiles, and one very mischievous one from Mina herself.
"You must have a natural born gift for linguistics, malenkaya Jirou, because you've already gotten the spelling figured out, if not for a few points where you either should or shouldn't have added a soft sign to some words. Did you actually figure this all out on your own? No, better question: how long have you been studying?" Oleg asked in true astonishment, and Kyouka started turning red in the face, knowing she couldn't just make up an answer with Nikolay standing right there.
"Um…a little over a week, actually," she muttered as quietly as a church mouse, causing Oleg to collapse back n his seat in disbelief.
"Kids these days. Well, other than your prose needing a little fine tuning, and yes I could tell that's what you were going for based on the sentences you're trying to write and how you're wording them, you've already gotten a good portion of how our language technically works figured out already; far more than most students would in the span of a single week at least."
Kyouka was trying so hard to just take the compliments for what they were and not let herself get embarrassed, but those persistent, observant smiles on everyones' faces were not helping. However, it was when she saw the look of clear impression at how far she'd already gotten reflected in Nikolays' green eyes, that she felt her entire head heat up to the point she thought it would catch on fire.
As soon as it was clear that he and Oleg had gone through everything she had so far, Kyouka hurriedly gathered it all up, practically stuffed it straight into her backpack and hurried away from the dining room, before practically planting herself on the floor of the living room, almost automatically pulling herself into a silent, embarrassed ball with her legs tucked in, and her eyes glued to the floor.
"Why are you looking so embarrassed, Jirou-san? You're trying to learn a whole other language on your free time, while taking on everything we've been doing at school? That's actually really cool!" Eijirou stated admiringly in an attempt to encourage her.
"Yeah, I haven't really had much chance to get involved, myself, but we actually have an arrangement where I can help her figure out the language and iron out the grammatical details, and in exchange she'd help me get a better grasp on English for the exams." Nikolay admitted as he rejoined the rest of his friends, only for Kyouka to flinch even worse.
Of course, Mina had eyes like a hawk, and when she saw the normally cool and calculated Kyouka fidgeting like this, it just made that mischievous smile on her face grow that much further. She hurriedly went to join her side, watching carefully to try and see a reaction in her eyes. "I'm surprised, Kyouka-chan; I didn't think you were someone who went and studied whole other languages for fun. I'm curious, what would make you wanna pick up Russian of all things? You find somebody you wanna talk much more personally to?"
Kyouka had half a mind to start staring daggers at Mina; she clearly knew what she was doing, talking in such a teasing and suggestive manner like that. Hell, she never really stopped at all that hinting about her and Nikolay as a subject ever since the Rescue Race. Right now, it just made Kyouka want to disappear.
"Actually, it turns out Jirou-san writes music of her own, and she wanted to learn how Russian poetry works so she could try writing those kinds of lyrics. I've actually seen some of the stuff she's written, both in Japanese and English. She's really good; at least from what I can tell on the latter part, she's way better at English than me."
Everyone looked at Kyouka with total surprise and delight, while Kyoukas' whole face was now strawberry red, tucking her face into her knees so nobody would notice, all while Mina and Ochako were now fervently asking her to one day let them hear whatever she had written. "Just, for the love of God, please promise you won't tell the rest of the class," she ultimately muttered in defeat once it became clear they weren't going to leave her alone about it, especially Mina.
Thankfully, both girls, and immediately then all three boys, each gave her their solemn oath (and pinkie promises) that her little songwriting secret would be safe with them. It was hardly the oath in blood she would've preferred in her aggravated embarrassment, but Kyouka ultimately knew it was the best they were going to be able to give her, and so she at least gave them all an appreciative nod.
Oleg was then quick to try and dispel the awkwardness in the air by once again reminding the kids of their original plan for the evening, to which they were all pretty much fully ready and willing to get started, gathering across the living room like a literal home theater audience. Unfortunately, musicals had very little options to offer, of which none found themselves particularly enthused.
So in the end, Eijirou ended up taking the reins, going for what he described in his boyish excitement as his grandfathers' favorite movie, 'The Great Escape*', simply describing it as the epoch of what truly manly heroes could do when severely outmatched in the times before the Quirk phenomenon, while particularly gushing over one of the actors called Steve McQueen, whom he simply called 'the manliest man of his time.' Needless to say, his over-the-top bravado got all five of his classmates laughing at his energetic display before they officially got started.
Of course, it didn't take long after starting for something to come along that had Nikolay unable to stop snickering where he sat: a scene wherein Charles Bronson and James Cagney tried blending in with a group of Russian POW's in order to try and escape a German prison camp, and Charles explained the only sentence in Russian he actually knew, only for the latter to learn it meant 'I love you.'
"I'm sorry; I can't help it, guys. It's just that they were so close to getting it right." Of course, with his being in the know, and the rest not, their gazes of curiosity and want for an explanation were unmistakable. Upon pausing the movie, Nikolay cleared his throat and proceeded with surprising focus: "Well, Russian is a language that is dependent on conjugation, based on the grammatical gender of the subject, and the case of the sentence, whether it's locative, accusative, nominative, dative or whatever. When you figure out those two things, the rest of the sentence falls in line with it. Yes, our language isn't as rigid in structure as Japanese, but the conjugation and declension are vital instead, if you want people to actually understand what you're trying to say.
"So here, what they just did, they got the translation for that sentence, 'Ya vash lyublyu' correct, it does technically mean 'I love you', but it means it in the context of if you were saying it to a group of people, instead of just one. If you wanted to say it in the singular context, you would say 'Ya lyublyu tebya'. When you address somebody, you either go with 'vy' or 'ty.' If you don't want to be seen as incredibly rude by people you don't know well, you address them with 'vy,' but if it's someone you know very well, then you would address them with 'ty.' And then of course you would just conjugate the sentence from there, based on the subject you're either talking to, or talking about. I just couldn't help it, since they were so close to getting it absolutely right."
As Nikolay had gotten particularly wrapped up in his little grammatical demonstration, Kyouka had started scribbling it down in her notebook, this time out of even the periphery of everyone else, while all the others were all clearly taking his impromptu little language lesson in mind.
As they played the movie back up again, Mina simply couldn't help herself as she inched in a little closer with a knowing smirk. "Wow, Kolya-kun, I didn't think a tiny little grammar slip could get you so passionate like that. You'd probably make for a really good language teacher if the Hero part didn't work out," she said teasingly, while Nikolay could only blush and smile with embarrassment at how he'd let himself go on even a tiny rant.
However, having just had this little moment of his, and then glancing over to Kyouka for a moment, Nikolay suddenly remembered just what she had suggested to him back at the bookstore in regards to their little language-learning arrangement, and where Mina potentially stood in the mix.
Realizing this was about as close to the perfect moment as he was going to get, Nikolay sucked in a deep breath and turned to look at his pink best friend, who just as quickly realized he'd actually taken his eyes from the movie and was looking at her with particular focus, leaving her more than a little curious and excited to hear what was going through his head.
"You know…I realize I should've probably asked you this a while ago, since we spend so much time together as it is, and I know this isn't exactly the best time, with the final exams coming up soon and all that, but…if you were ever interested in learning, Mina…I'd be willing to try and teach you Russian, too. Again, only if you would want to, I don't want to make you feel obligated or anything like that."
Despite his nervous mumbling by the end, though, Nikolay was met not with amused laughter, but instead probably one of the most surprised, and then happiest smiles that Mina had ever given him, a statement just as astounding to him as it sounded. She didn't even hesitate to throw her arms around his sides, hugging Nikolay tight while squealing with excitement, not caring one bit of the captive audience their little moment currently had.
"I was starting to think you'd never ask, Kolya-kun! Are you serious; of course I'd love to learn! Can you imagine, two best friends that can talk in a whole other language to each other, never having to worry about anyone else eavesdropping? Even beside that, that's like the kind of bond-for-life stuff you only ever read about! So yeah, of course I'm interested, more than that, even!"
However, Nikolay could see the dawning of realization in her black-gold eyes, as she seemed to actually be making the conscious effort to try and reel herself back, while still showing just how happy she was to be extended the offer right now. "I mean, yeah, we still got the exam to get ready for, and English is still so damn hard, so…maybe we should just…you know…focus on…that first."
Nikolay nodded with an appreciative smile, silently overjoyed to see that Mina was taking their earlier oath to do their best to pass the exams together as seriously as he was. Of course, that didn't stop her from once again hooking her pinkie finger around his once again in another solemn oath-swearing. "Once we finish that and get back from the forest lodge, though, all bets are off, Kolya-kun. I'll be there bright and early whenever you want to, and you can teach me everything you think I should know. That's another Mina Ashido promise."
Ochako, Izuku and Eijirou were all smiling in approval of this impromptu little development, while trying their best not to stare, while Kyouka was still keeping herself balled up, but giving a slight little approving smirk of her own, while also feeling the slightest touch annoyed their arrangement wasn't going to be as exclusive as she had originally thought now.
And all the rest of the evening as they all sat and watched together, all Mina could focus on was just how happy she still felt that Nikolay had actually extended his hand to her like that with such desire to do so. The look of total hope in his eyes when he did so was still making her heart beat faster than usual in her chest, no matter how much she was trying not to focus too much on it, instead simply trying to enjoy a serene evening like this with so many of her dearest friends.
Hours later, once the movie had finished and the rest of his classmates bid farewell till tomorrow in order to get home, Nikolay sequestered himself to his room for the rest of the night, still feverishly poring over the multitude of notes Izuku had given him. After weeks of nonstop fretting on how he was going to be able to expand his planning and fighting capabilities, combing through every source of inspiration he could find, he finally had something concrete from a very studious outside perspective to help guide him along. He knew it was going to take a great deal of time and effort on his part, but there was no denying just how excited he was to try and figure out how to make some of these ideas of Izukus' for his Quirk actually happen.
Then, of course, after today, there was also the consideration that outside his studies in relation to his Quirk, he now had two actual tutoring obligations of his own, to help Kyouka and Mina alike with the same language teachings, even though they weren't actually related to their school studies. Simply the fact that he was now in this position, of his own volition on top of that, was simply remarkable.
Naturally, simply thinking about that made him start thinking back to Mina earlier that evening, and just how stricken he was by how indescribably happy she looked when he offered to teach her his own native tongue. It was just like Kyouka had said before, she really had just been waiting for him to make the first move. Naturally, the idea of him and his closest friend by far being able to speak to each other on such a deeply personal and impenetrable level from everyone else was more enticing than he had originally ever thought possible.
Hurriedly shaking his head in order to get his focus back on studying, Nikolay simply couldn't believe just how much more often he found his thoughts drifting right back to her these days, ever since that night after they returned from their internships…or perhaps even ever since that photo booth weeks before. He certainly wasn't complaining about it, not at all. If he were, he wouldn't have wanted to spend so much time with her like he had been. It was simply a sensation he'd never gone through before, and he was still trying to figure out what it ultimately could have meant, if anything.
However, now was unfortunately not the time to be focusing on that, and with a mental slap to the back of his head to get his head back in the game, Nikolay proceeded to spend the rest of that night studying Izukus' Quirk notes, while scribbling down minute theories of his own as he read. For the first time since it had been announced, he actually was starting t feel well and truly like he might actually be able to hold his own when the final exams would eventually come.
And there's the new chapter for this week, everyone. Hopefully you all found yourselves entertained by it, even without an abundance of action.
Until I return one 07/10 with the next chapter, have a great rest of your week, stay safe, and live well.
* Nikolay is referring to legendary Russian filmmakers Sergei Eisenstein (one of the godfathers of cinema as an art form as we know it, and one of the original alumni of the worlds' very first film school, located in Russia), Andrei Tarkovsky, Sergei Bondarchuk, Mikhail Kalatazov and Elem Klimov; all names that film lovers around the world owe themselves to become much more familiar with.
* Cheburashka is, exactly as Nikolay described it, essentially the Soviet equivalent of Mickey Mouse, that has become an enduring icon for Russian children even to this day.
* 'The Great Escape' is a legendary 1963 WWII epic by John Sturgess. An absolute must-see for anyone and everyone, and Nikolays' little mini-speech/linguistics lesson relating to it is something that's been sitting in my head for years. I have to say that it feels really good to finally have it written out on digital paper like this.