February 26, the day of the exam
The day of the exam has finally arrived. And to make sure he would pass it, Ryoichi decided to test out the power of his quirk before he could use it. He got up early and went to his basement gym and wanted to see what he could do before he can leave for the exam.
"I'm on a short schedule, so I'll have to make this quick." Ryoichi thought to himself as he stretched for a bit.
"Ready, Ryoichi?" Momo asked as she held up some discs, standing next to him. "You've been starting small with your quirk for the past 10 months, so now you have to go bigger than that. Do you understand?"
He nodded as he readied himself up. Momo threw the first disk as Ryoichi concentrated his quirk and heat emitted from his hand. He then held his hand out forward as a small fireball formed and he shot it at the disk, destroying it. The two childhood friends look amazed at his accomplishment.
"Amazing! You really got better over time!" Momo said with excitement.
"Yeah, let's keep going with this." Ryoichi said as they continued with practice.
Momo threw more disks as Ryoichi shot them down with fireballs. Momo then sped things up a bit as she threw the disks at a faster rate. Ryoichi still took them down, but was having a hard time getting them.
"Alright then. Time to change things up a bit." Ryoichi thought as he switched elements.
He held his hand out as electricity surrounded it. More electricity built up and once Ryoichi had a good shot of the disk, he fired at it and managed to hit his target while his arm was pushed back a bit by the force of his blast.
"Maybe you should take it more easy. That was a strong blast." Momo said.
"Already noted." Ryoichi said as he shook his hand.
He went to blast more disks again, until Yui came downstairs and called them to get ready.
"Ryoichi, Momo, are you two– Woah!" Yui ducked from a lightning blast from Ryoichi when she made him jump from her sudden appearance.
"Oh my god, Mom! I'm so sorry, I didn't know you were there! Did I hurt you?!" Ryoichi went into a panic as he checked around for any injuries on her.
Yui stopped him and calmed him down as she showed him she was okay. "I'm okay, Ryoichi. See? Besides, this happened before, when I first got it."
Ryoichi and Momo both sighed in relief that Yui was alright.
"Anyways, what are you two doing down here? You gotta get going. Like, now." Yui said as she was taking them to get ready for the exam.
"We were just testing my quirk out before the exam." Ryoichi said as he was getting dressed.
"Yeah and– Wait what time is it?" Momo asked Yui.
"Almost time for the exam! You're about to be late! Kari already left so get going!"
The two looked wide eyed at each other and were now rushing to get prepared for the exam. They got ready as they quickly rushed out of his house before Yui called out to Ryoichi.
"Ryoichi, you're forgetting something!" Yui yelled out to him as he came back to her.
"What'd I forget? My tracksuit? Something else important." He asked while being in a hurry. He then noticed the look his mom was giving him as she had one eyebrow up.
"You know what you're forgetting." Yui said, crossing her arms like she was expecting something.
Ryoichi then blushed in embarrassment and whispered to her. "Mom seriously? I'm not a little kid anymore!"
"Okay? So, I can't give my own son a small kiss for good luck, like I always did?" She pouted.
Ryoichi looked back at Momo to see she was patiently waiting for him and silently giggled to herself. He then groaned and moved his bangs for his mom as Yui planted a small forehead kiss on him.
"Good luck. I'm really proud of you." Yui said to him.
Ryoichi felt more motivated and nodded at her. "I'll do my best!" He then caught up with Momo as they both left before waving goodbye to Yui and she waved back at them.
"They've grown so fast. I'm happy to have this family, even if you're not here with me." Yui thought to herself as she held her hand close to her heart.
U.A. High School Entrance Exam Location
Ryoichi and Momo made it to UA in time as they had time left to make it to the exam.
"Thank goodness we made it in time!" Momo said as she panted and was holding onto Ryoichi, catching her breath from running so much.
"Yeah, thankfully. I had no idea we were practicing that long. But at least we're now. Now, let's go in and do our best!" Ryoichi said, being more pumped about the exam
Momo blushed at his enthusiasm and got more pumped. "Y–Yeah! Let's do our best!"
They walked into the building, that was before something made Ryoichi trip and was about to fall onto his face.
"Or just fail already I guess." He thought before he stopped failing.
Ryoichi thought it was Momo who caught him, but she was still standing beside, looking shocked. He then noticed that he was floating off the ground and an aura surrounded him.
"What the–?!" Ryoichi panicked at first before hearing a familiar voice.
"Don't worry I gotcha!" A voice was heard behind them and they looked to see who it was.
They saw another student like them, a boy, and he had short dark hair and purple eyes. Some noticeable things about him was that he had a sucker in his mouth, looked a bit below average height, and his hand had a light blue orb in his palm.
"You almost had a nasty fall, and at the entrance exam too." The student said with a small chuckle. "Here, let me help you back up."
They flicked their hand as Ryoichi was back standing up straight on the ground as the aura dispersed.
"Are you okay?" Momo said, checking Ryoichi if he was hurt.
"I'm fine. Nothing broken. Thanks for that, Josuke." Ryoichi thanked him.
"You two know each other?" Momo asked, getting a bit curious about them.
"Yeah actually, we met back in our first years in middle school. And you're Momo, right? I'm Josuke Harukita." Josuke said as he introduced himself.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Momo Yaoyorozu, but I guess you already knew that." Momo said with a small giggle.
"Mhm, Ryoichi talked about you from time to time."
Momo blushed when she was told that. She looked at Ryoichi and saw he was blushing as well as his face was completely red and was looking away.
"I–I see… Well that's actually nice to hear. And uh… I'll see you after the exams, Ryoichi!" Momo said as she speed walked her way into the school building. "He really did remember me. I'm… really glad he did." She thought as she was smiling and she put her hand on her chest as her heart was beating fast.
Back with the two boys, Josuke walked up next to Ryoichi, who was still blushing madly.
"Hm, she's tall. Almost tall as you." Josuke pointed out.
"Mhm. Already knew that… Let's just go…" Ryoichi said as he walked into the building.
"What? Was it something I said? You're not mad are you? Ryoichi, answer me!" Josuke said, getting slightly worried as he followed him.
Soon, they found their way to the auditorium and saw how many other students there were here for the exam.
"Woah, a lot of people really want to try out for UA huh?" Josuke said, surprised by the sight.
"It's the number one school, so it would make sense." Ryoichi agreed with him.
Just as they were looking for seats, or maybe even their friends, something caught Ryoichi's eye. He saw some purple hair that had heartbeat waves on it. What stood out to him the most was some cords that hung from the ears.
"Jiro?" Ryoichi uttered out, and by coincidence, that person heard him.
They turned around and it actually turned out to be Jiro. She looked for who said her name until her eyes landed on Ryoichi. She smiled seeing and waved at him, getting his attention.
"Hey, Akatani!" Jiro called out to him.
Ryoichi saw her and waved back as he smiled at her. He then saw a seat next to her and thought about sitting next to her, but didn't want to leave Josuke by himself.
"Oh, Josuke, you don't mind if I… um…" he said as he was referring to Jiro.
"Hm? Oh sure, go ahead! It's getting crowded, so you might wanna hurry." Josuke said.
"Thanks, man!" Ryoichi thanked him as he went to sit next to Jiro.
"No problem! And don't get too close now!" Josuke said, teasing him.
Ryoichi groaned as he blushed a little, but still made his way to her. He managed to make his way to Jiro and sat down next to her.
"A friend from school?" Jiro asked him.
"Yeah. It was getting crowded, so he just let me sit here." Ryoichi told her.
"Well, you're not wrong. It is getting crowded. I guess you got lucky, Problem Child." Kyoka said, teasing him with a small chuckle.
"Oh ha ha. Very funny." He said in a sarcastic laughing tone. "You probably wanted me to sit with you anyway." He teased her back.
Jiro slightly blushed and pouted at him. "A-as if!" She then crossed her arms and looked away from him. "But… it's nice you're here with me."
The lights went out and a large screen in the room was turned on showing the UA symbol on it as Present Mic showed up.
"What's up, UA candidates? Thanks for tunin' in to me, your school DJ. C'mon and lemme hear ya!" He Yelled out to the students.
The entire room was silent.
"Keeping it mellow huh? That's fine, I'll skip straight to the main show. Let's talk about how this practical exam is gonna go down, okay? Are you ready? Yeah!"
The entire room was silent, again, while Present mic then went on explaining how the exam works as the students who went to the same school were being split up into different centers so they wouldn't help each other out during the exam. He then explained that the goal is to beat the faux villains by using their quirks to raise their scores. But something seemed off. Jiro and Ryoichi were whispering to each other about it.
"Hey, Akatani, if we have to beat these robots…"
"And it shows there's three for it, then why–"
"Excuse me, sir, but I have a question." A student from the crowd stood up for a question.
"Hit me!" Present Mic said.
"On the print out, you've listed four types of villains. Not three. With all respect, if this is an error on official UA materials, it is shameful."
The guy just went on and on about how the number one hero school in Japan was supposed to be like while the others just mentally face palmed themselves.
"And you, with the unkempt hair." The guy said, pointing at someone, which turned out to be Izuku. "You've been muttering this entire time, it's distracting! If this is some sort of game to you, then please leave immediately. At least this so-called 'Problem Child' would have some decency."
Izuku then shut himself up and unknown to either of them, Ryoichi was only a few rows behind them. Ryoichi's eye just twitched and didn't say anything about it, just took the compliment and sat there quietly. Jiro chuckled a little bit from his reaction and being called out.
"What was that you said a few months ago? 'I am no problem child,' was it?" She said while mimicking him in his voice.
"Sh-shut it." Was all Ryoichi said.
Present mic explained that the fourth one was worth 0 points and was just an obstacle in their way. Instead of beating it, just run away from it. Present mic just finished the presentation and everyone got dressed in their workout clothes and went to their designated center. They arrived at the centers they were supposed to be at and coincidentally, Jiro and Ryoichi were in the same center. Coincidence? I think not.
"So, we're in the same group huh?" Jiro said
"Yep, pretty much." Ryoichi agreed with her.
He then saw something out of the corner of his eye and noticed how Jiro was messing with her earjacks a little.
"Nervous?" He asked her.
"Hm? Oh, yeah, just a little nervous about this." Jiro admitted as she was sweating a little.
"Hey, at least you're not the only one." Ryoichi said as he showed her his hand that was sparking some small electricity.
"Right, Let's start!" Present Mic's voice suddenly was heard.
They turned their attention to Present Mic, now on top of a tower.
"Get moving! There are no countdowns in real battles. Run, run, run listeners! You're wasting airtime here."
"Crap, let's get going!" Ryoichi said as he and Jiro started sprinting.
Ryoichi and Jiro were left behind and were catching up with the group, and as they were catching up, a robot broke through a wall that stopped them in their tracks.
"A two-pointer!" Jiro pointed out.
"I got it!" Ryoichi said as he readied his quirk. "I hope this works!"
Flames were ignited in Ryoichi's hands as they went into his hands as fire marks were seen around them and then disappeared. He rushed at the robot and destroyed the two pointer, ruining the forearms of his jacket as well. But what he didn't know was that Jiro helped him destroy it as well.
"Uhh... do we share that?" Ryoichi asked in confusion.
"It's a two-pointer so I guess...?" Jiro was confused as well until she saw what happened to his jacket. "Wait your arms!"
"They're fine, let's just keep going!" Ryoichi said, ignoring his damaged jacket
Jiro was worried if he was alright, but she shook it off and went with him. "Right!"
They continued on with the exam as they double teamed and took down more faux villains. Sometimes Ryoichi would save Jiro and Jiro would do the same thing. Their plan was to get enough points until they decided to go solo and went their separate ways.
Ryoichi jumped from some high points as he looked around for any faux villains. "A few more faux villains to take wouldn't hurt to gain some points. I just hope Jiro's okay." He thought before he continued searching.
Just as he was searching, he noticed something and saw Jiro, by herself, taking out some more faux villains. He looked impressed at how she was using her earjacks as she stuck them into the robots and made them malfunction.
"Hm. Not bad. Her quirk really is amazing." Ryoichi thought as he smiled to himself.
He was about to leave until he saw three more faux villains appeared behind her, and Jiro looked too tired at the moment to notice them. His eyes widened and was about to warn her, but his body started moving on his own instead.
Ryoichi jumped from the building he was standing on and went straight for the robots. He had no idea why he didn't just grab Jiro and run out of there, but that didn't matter to him at the moment.
"I wasn't going to sit back and let Jiro get hurt like that! What kind of hero would I be if I just sat back and watched, and let everyone get hurt when I could do something?!" He thought as he reeled his arm back and powered it up, but this time he used both of his elements.
Once he got close, he thrusted his fist forward, punching one of the robots and sending it back with the others, destroying them. Jiro looked shocked and amazed to see Ryoichi saved her in the nick of time.
"Akatani? When did you get here?" She asked him.
Ryoichi heard her voice and quickly went to her as he checked on her. "Jiro! You're not hurt are you." He said with concern for her.
"I'm okay. I'm just… tired." She said as she panted.
Ryoichi was about to help up, until he hissed in pain and grabbed his arm.
"A–Akatani?" Jiro said, sounding worried as she saw the pain on his face.
She looked at how he was holding his arm and then looked down at it, and grew shocked as she saw his arm completely bruised. "Akatani, your arm!"
Ryoichi grew confused until he saw his bruised arm. "What the…" He didn't have time to think as two more robots were heading their way. "Jiro, look out!"
Jiro looked back to see them quickly coming and devised a plan. She took off her jacket and threw it at one of them, blinding it's site, and she used her earjacks to destroy the other one. She used this time to escape as she put Ryoichi's arm over her and carried him to a hiding spot.
As they were heading, Jiro used her earjacks to hear for any more robots, in case they got spotted and have to book for it.
"The coast is clear, but we might as well wait here until the exam's over." She said as she kneeled down to Ryoichi and tried to do something about his arm.
"Are you sure? But what if you don't have enough points to pass?" Ryoichi said with concern in his voice.
"That doesn't matter now, you're the broken one so let me try and do something about that arm." Jiro said as she was thinking of something. "Your jacket, let me see it."
Ryoichi was confused at what she was thinking but gave Jiro his jacket. She took a look at it. She was nervous but was willing to do anything for him at this point. Jiro slightly lifted his bruised arm, without causing some pain, and wrapped his jacket around it like a cast.
"I'm not an expert with treating wounds, but that should do it, right?" She said, a bit worried if she didn't really help him.
Ryoichi moved it around a bit and felt no type of pain. "Hm, not bad. Could be better, but this works."
Jiro sighed in relief. Suddenly, Ryoichi stood up as he was walking out, causing Jiro to be surprised by his action and stop him before he could go.
"Woah, woah! What are you doing, you idiot?! You're clearly still broken!" Jiro shouted at him.
"Oh this?" Ryoichi referred to his casted arm. "I'm not going to use it. I'll just use my other one!" He said, sounding confident and was leaving again.
"Jeez, what's with this guy? He thinks he's invincible cause he's not like us." Jiro thought as she deadpanned at him. She would've just let him go on his own and let karma handle the rest, but something told her to let him stay.
"Listen, I get you're really strong and you could handle yourself with certain things, but you just wrecked your arm to save me, don't you think you should rest up for a bit until we get you healed." Jiro said, being worried for her saiyan friend.
Ryoichi stopped when he heard how worried Jiro sounded for him. He looked at his bruised arm and was rethinking his decision on going on his own again. He sighed in defeat and walked back to Jiro.
"Fine, we can wait till the exam's over." Ryoichi said as he sat down against the wall, with Jiro sitting next to him.
"Good! Now we just… sit here I guess. Oh, and you don't have to worry about me, I managed to get some good points on my own, so I should be fine." She told him but then noticed how Ryoichi looked a bit upset. "Hey, you okay?"
"Hm? No, I'm fine. Never better." Ryoichi said in a slightly sarcastic tone. "I guess no matter what I do, my blood just gets in the way of everything and screws up over everyone." He said being upset with himself.
Jiro began to feel bad for him and thought it was a mistake to have him sit out. She wanted to talk to him about it, but didn't want to make things worse between them.
After some time, the entrance exam soon came to an end.
The examinees were leaving the testing area to get healed or go home. Ryoichi was in the infirmary, getting his arm healed, and Jiro was with him as well.
"There we go. Feel better?" Recovery Girl asked about his arm.
He moved it around and it felt like it never broke in the first place.
"Yeah, actually." Ryoichi said and thanked her for healing.
"Good, now be more careful with yourself. You're probably the second patient I had that wrecked theirselves." Recovery Girl said, referring to a certain green broccoli boy.
Ryoichi and Jiro left and were walking their way out of UA. It was silent between them as Ryoichi was still upset and Jiro still blamed herself for earlier. To break the silence, Jiro tried to come up with a conversation.
"So… that quirk of yours. It's something else." She said with a forced laugh.
"My quirk? Oh, yeah, it is something. My mom helped me and my sister with mastering before the exam." Ryoichi said.
"You have a sister?"
"I have older siblings, but also a twin, which is also my sister."
"A twin? Must be a nightmare with practically two of you." Jiro said jokingly.
"Oh I beg to differ." Ryoichi right back at her.
They both chuckled and continued their walk and talk. As they were talking to each, Ryoichi then saw someone and recognized it to be Momo as she was talking with Kari.
"Hey, Momo! Kari!" Ryoichi yelled out as he waved at them to get their attention.
They heard him yelling for them and saw him as they walked up to him and Jiro.
"There you are Ryoichi! How was the exam for you?" Momo asked him.
"It was… alright. It was actually tough like they said." Ryoichi said, not telling her what happened with him.
"You're not wrong. There were so many robots and they brought out a huge zero pointer!" Kari told her side of the exam.
"Wow. That actually sounds tough. But knowing you two, you definitely passed it." Momo said with high hopes for them as she had a bright smile.
Ryoichi smiled at her happiness, but still felt bad for not telling her the truth about his exam. "Yeah… Oh! Guys, this is Jiro. We met a few months back when we were training."
"Hey, it's nice to meet the both of you." Jiro said, introducing herself.
"It's nice to meet you too… Jiro." Momo said, oddly sounding a bit jealous.
"Well I hope we get along when we come back here, at UA. We should get going, bro." Kari told him that they should go home.
"Right, I'll see you another time, Jiro." Ryoichi said his goodbye to her as they were leaving.
Jiro reached out for him, but retracted her hand quickly and just waved back. "Yeah… see ya." She thought to herself on why she did that, but shook it off and went her way home.
1 week later
Ryoichi was just chilling in his house waiting for the results of the exam but at the same time was worried. Not only was he worried about himself, he was also worried about Izuku and Jiro. Earlier he saw Izuku looking emotionless after the exam and he hasn't said a word about it since then. And with Jiro, he got himself hurt which got the both of them to sit out the rest of the exam.
He was also worried about himself as he thought working with Jiro was against the rules of it and the robots they took down together didn't even count. He shook his thoughts away when Momo brought him out of them.
"Ryoichi, Are you feeling okay?" Momo asked him.
"Oh, yeah I'm fine. You were saying something?" Ryoichi said, trying to hide it from her.
"I was saying that your costume could use some changes… Are you sure you're okay? You know you can tell what's wrong?" Momo said she put her hand on his.
"Momo, I'm telling you, I'm fine. There's nothing wrong with…" Ryoichi tried to tell her he was fine, but the look of concern on her face stung his heart. He couldn't hide it from her anymore and sighed in defeat.
"Ryoichi…"
"I… It's the exam. I just couldn't get my mind off of it." Ryoichi admitted to her.
"But, you were able to pass it, right? So what's troubling you?" Momo questioned him.
"I mean... It's just that after these 10 months of gaining my work, I just been thinking too much about myself, was it truly worth it? I was doing good until I got myself hurt trying to save Jiro and had to sit out." He told her as he referred to his torn jacket.
"Okay, so? So what if you didn't take down many villains? You were doing the right thing, that's all that mattered." Momo told him.
"I know the amount of villains I take down doesn't really make a hero, but the exam was only on how many villains you beat, and I'm not even sure if the ones I took down didn't even count when I was working with somebody and was relaxing my ass off." Ryoichi said with some anger, but calmed himself. "I know you got in, but me?" Ryoichi tightened his grip on his bed until Momo pulled him into a hug and he looked surprised at her.
"Ryoichi, I'm sure you got in. They probably still would've let you have the points from the exam, even if you worked with that person. And... if you don't get in then... I won't go to UA as well!" Momo suddenly blurted out.
Ryoichi just looked shocked at her response. She was basically saying that she'll give up on her dream of going to UA for him.
"But why? You got in through recommendations and most likely passed. So why would you give up your dream for me?" Ryoichi asked her, being concerned for her choice.
"Because…" Momo then put her hand on his face. "I don't want to see my best friend sad all the time, it hurts my heart. Plus, there's other hero schools to attend to, so wherever you go, I go with you."
They sat there in silence, staring into each other's eyes. Their hearts beating faster as they continued staring, waiting for each other to make the first move. This continued until they slowly moved closer to each other, with small blushes on their cheeks. Just as their faces were close to each other, Kari came into the room looking surprised.
"Ryoichi! They're here! Our results–!" Kari shouted until she froze at the sight.
Ryoichi and Momo just sat there frozen as they looked at Kari and then looked at each other. They sat there until they separated from each other and were blushing madly.
"U-Um... W-what's here?" Ryoichi asked while still blushing.
"Our results from UA... Was I interrupting something?"
"N-no actually. We were just… talking about our costumes…" Momo partially told the truth.
"Riiight... Anyway, that's not the point. Our results!" Kari said as she pulled the two to Ryoichi's desk.
Kari handed Ryoichi the envelope as he opened it and a small device came out from it. A hologram played from it and it showed All Might.
"Booya! I am here as a projection now!"
"All Might?" The three thought when he showed up.
"I know you have many questions but I have dozens of these things to do, so I'll make it quick for the both of you, considering you are twins. Kari Akatani… you have passed!" All Might said as Kari cheered to herself a bit, but regained focus for Ryoichi.
"Now, for young Ryoichi…If you're worried about young Jiro then how about look at this!" All Might pointed on the screen behind him and showed Jiro talking with Present Mic.
"Hey, that guy, Ryoichi Akatani? The one with the really spiky hair and soft looking face, him? Is it okay… if you give him some of my points?" Jiro asked, shocking the trio. "He helped me around during the exam and got some points on his own, but… I just can't help but feel I screwed up his chance!"
The three watched the video as they were interested in what Jiro had to say, especially Ryoichi.
"He broke his arm when he took out some pointers to save me. I'm thankful, but all we did for the rest of the exam was just sit out so he could heal. It's not fair that he barely passed because of me! If anything, can he just have some of mine, so I can repay him at least?" She pleaded so Ryoichi would be able to pass.
Ryoichi felt touched when Jiro tried to give up some of her points so he would be able to pass, but was also worried if that could cost her way into UA.
"Impressive right? If you're wondering about your results" All Might paused before continuing. "I will gladly inform you that the both of you have passed!"
All Might's news shocked them to hear he still passed.
"You could've had more villain points if you went on your own, but with your selfless acts in the exam, you decided to help others around you, even if you're the strongest out of all of them. Not only was the exam based on combat, it was also based on rescue points! A panel of judges watched your heroic acts of teamwork and beyond fighting villains. Out of everyone that participated in the exam, you and your sister scored a decent amount of rescue points, and an average of combat points."
The screen turned to the scoreboard and showed that he was first place above Kari and Bakugo and he scored 70 combat points and 40 rescue points, with Kari scoring the same amount of combat points, but only 30 rescue points. Ryoichi felt himself get emotional and smiled with tears in his eyes.
"I... I don't believe it…"
All Might then held his hand out to the camera like he was accepting the both of them.
"Welcome, Ryoichi and Kari. You both have made it. You're now a part of the hero academia."
The hologram faded and he was suddenly embraced. It was Momo, Kari and his mom as they hugged him and were also crying with tears of joy.
"You did it Ryoichi! I knew you would pass!" Momo said with joy.
"I knew you'd make it bro!" Kari exclaimed being happy for him.
"My babies are going to be heroes!" Yui said as she was proud of her twins.
Ryoichi just hugged them back as he was happy as well.
"Thank you, I couldn't have done it if it weren't for any of you."
"There's no need to thank us. Besides it wasn't only us, you have your other friends right?
Right on que, Ryoichi's phone vibrated. He looked at it and it was from his friends texting him that they made it into UA.
"Yeah, I should thank them as well." Ryoichi thought and told them he made it in as well and was happy that their dreams were coming true.
"So… what were you and Jiro doing together?" Momo asked.
Ryoichi suddenly felt a menacing aura by him and slowly looked at Momo. She had a smile on her face, but it was like he could also sense anger from her along with a dark purple aura around her.
"W–what do you mean?"
"Jiro said you both sat out during the rest of the exam together… What were you two doing?"
Ryoichi's fear increased as he tried to explain it to her, but couldn't. He tried to get his sister and mom to back him up, only to look dumbfounded to see that they were leaving him behind.
"Sorry bro. That's your best friend, so you deal with it. Bye!" Kari said as she and Yui left his room.
"Mom, Kari! You traitors!" He yelled for leaving them, and felt daggers at his back.
"So… ICHI." Momo just called him by his nickname. "What did you do with her…?"
"Momo I swear we did nothing during that time, we just sat there and talked for a while you gotta believe me!" Ryoichi explained in a panic state.
"Hmmm… Okay!" Momo said as her personality changed back to her kind, bubbly one and Ryoichi fell back onto his bed, dumbfounded by her reaction. "Hm? Everything alright, Ichi?"
"Yeah… never better…" Ryoichi said, ignoring her innocence, but then something crossed his mind. "Wait, Momo, did you just call me my nickname?"
"What? 'Ichi?' What about it?" Momo asked in curiosity.
"It's just… It's been a while since you called me that. Did you really like it?" Ryoichi asked her.
Momo was stunned by the question for a bit until she blushed and got flustered. "W-well yeah, I did actually! I was the one who came up with it, since I think you're number one regardless and… I-I think I should go home now bye Ichi!" Momo said as she quickly left.
Ryoichi was left blushing and touched by Momo's words. He smiled and looked at his costume, getting more ideas on what to improve for it.
"If I really want to do my best at UA, I'll have to bring up my A-game, starting with that costume… and thank you Momo, everyone, for believing in me." He thought as he went to work with coming up with a new costume, preparing himself for UA.
