Welcome to another chapter!
If you read the title of the chapter then you probably guessed correctly that today's main cast is Mina, Kyoka, and Himiko. I hope you all enjoy!
Mina was leaning against a pillar scrolling through her phone when she felt someone sidle up to her. The faint tinge of iron and raspberry was a clear tell of who it was. Stuffing her phone away, Mina smiled looking over to see Himiko's giddy smile as hugged Mina's arm.
"I'm so excited for today Mina-chan," Himiko said practically vibrating, "I've never done a girl's day out before."
"Same actually," another voice cut in.
Mina and Himiko looked over to find Kyoka not in her usual punk rock outfit. Instead, she was wearing jeans and a light purple t-shirt. Mina and Himiko looked at each, blinked, then pounced on the blushing Kyoka.
"Aww look at this, you look so cute Kyoka. Did you dress up just for us?" Mina asked fawning over Kyoka.
"Yeah, you're totally rocking the look!" Himiko added.
Kyoka's blush deepened as her earphone jacks touched, "Thanks, I wanted to try something new."
The other two squealed as they glomped Kyoka. Who started to curse the other two while blushing only to get laughed at. Once the three calmed down, Mina began leading them down the street.
"So what prompted you to try something new? I don't think I've seen you without a jacket outside of your school uniform," Mina said.
"This is my first time having a girl's day out. I just wanted to do something special, I guess." Kyoka shrunk in on herself a little.
"It's my first girl's day out too! I never imagined having enough friends to have one before." Himiko said hugging Kyoka's arm.
"Huh? Why? You're so outgoing and confident and easy to get along with," Kyoka said. The energy seemed to drain out of Himiko as she stared off into the distance. Feeling Himiko squeezing her arm harder, Kyoka wrapped a jack around the girl causing Himiko to relax a little.
"Most of it is a mask. Having a blood quirk and having it starved was hard. I wasn't trusted around others and didn't trust myself either but I wanted to be normal. I wanted to be popular. So I wore a mask. With all of you, the mask feels more genuine that I don't know where it ends and I begin." Himiko sighed as she leaned her head on Kyoka's shoulder.
"Don't worry Himiko, no matter what, we be by your side," Mina said coming behind the two and wrapping them in a hug.
Kyoka didn't say anything, she just grabbed Himiko's and squeezed it while smiling at her.
"Thanks you two, I'm so lucky to call you friends. Now let me treat you to some crepe. Those look delicious." Himiko pointed to a crepe store while drooling slightly.
"Crepes does sound good right now," Kyoka said pulling Himiko toward the store.
"Whoo crepes!" Mina cheered rushing to the store.
Himiko smiled to herself as she squeezed Kyoka's hand lightly.
000
"That movie was super cheesy, like some movies are corny. But that one was a whole cornfield," Kyoka rolled her eyes.
"Yeah but like, the action scenes were amazing. Over the top explosions, beautiful long takes of fights. Ooh my god and the side romance plot of some side characters, that was just so sweet to watch," Mina swooned.
"They were the reason why this movie was for the corns," Kyoka said rolling her eyes while smiling a little. "But dorks being dorks together is a cute vibe."
"It was a fun movie," Himiko said bouncing with her every step, "I hope they have a sequel to it."
"We should totally have a girl's day out just to see the movie if there was a sequel!" Mina said practically bursting with excitement.
Kyoka nodded her agreement.
"Another girl's day out, I really hope we can," Himiko whispered to herself. Kyoka glanced over and took Himiko's hand in hers. Looking over, Himiko found Kyoka smiling at her as she squeezed her hand. Himiko shyly smiled back and looked down to the ground while blushing.
"Am I third wheeling here? Causes I can totally leave if I am." Mina said grinning.
"Wha- No it's not like that," Kyoka said jumping away while blushing hard. Himiko's face was pure red as her head began to steam. They eventually calmed down to find Mina hunched over laughing.
"Oh my god you two, I was just teasing." Mina eventually said trying to suppress her giggles.
Kyoka pouted as she lightly jabbed Mina's arm and took Himiko's hand back in hers.
"If you're going to be like this, then I guess we shall just go to the arcade without you then." Kyoka pulled Himiko along who followed with a bounce in her step.
"Wha- don't leave me behind, I behave. Promise~" Mina said catching up to them with a cheeky smile.
Himiko smiled to herself as she silently watched the two bicker. A flash of green hair as they entered the arcade made Himiko do a double take. Instead of finding the familiar greenhead boy Himiko knew, she instead saw a girl with long green hair panickly pacing while letting out frog-like croaks.
Getting Mina and Kyoka's attention, Himiko pointed out the girl.
"Should we get involved?" Kyoka said with an unsure look.
"I think we should, after all Midori-bro wouldn't even think about it before walking over," Mina said drawing a weary grin from Kyoka.
"You're right, time for us to be heroes," Kyoka said.
Simply nodding her approval, Himiko wasted no time in approaching the frog girl.
"Hey, do you need some help?"
The frog-like girl let out a croak at the sudden intrusion.
"Kero, I -er I would appreciate it, kero." The girl reached out for a little girl that looked similar to her. "I can't find my younger brother, he looks likes us."
"No problem! We'd be happy to help," Mina said with a wide grin.
"Yup, I'm Kyoka Jiro, pinky is Mina Ashido, and bubbly here is Himiko Toga." Kyoka introduced herself and the others with a wave of her hands and jacks.
"Oh, I'm Tsuyu Asui. Please just call me Tsu, kero," Tsuyu said with a bow.
"I'm Satsuki Asui!" The little girl gave the older girls a bright smile and a wave.
Himiko gushed over how cute Satsuki was much to the little girl's glee. Mina, Kyoka, and Tsuyu worked out their plan of attack. Tsuyu and Satsuki would keep looking near the entrance of the arcade. Mina and Kyoka would scour the middle while Himiko would look in the back.
As they split up, Himiko quickly made her way to the back. The games in the back towered over Himiko. Their blaring beeping and flashy light drowned out nearly everything else. Himiko was able to simply ignore it and made her way to a more open corner of the arcade.
It was loud as she approached. A large group of teenagers hung around a few machines. They were loud and obnoxious. At first glance, they seemed like they could pass off as gangsters. Though Himiko wondered if they were simply punks as their looks were similar to Kyoka's normal casual clothes. Either way, Himiko was thankful they seemed more focused on their games than trying to stir up trouble.
One of the teens with magenta highlights caught Himiko's eyes. The teen tilted their head towards where basketball games towered. When Himiko gave them a nod back they simply returned to focus on the game their friend was losing. With the grace of a hunting cat, Himiko weaved through the games.
As she was searching near the basketball games, she heard the faint sound of sniffling.
Looking behind one of the games, she found a small green-haired boy curled up.
"Hey, you okay?" Himiko asked, causing the boy to jump.
"I…er, yeah I'm fine. Just hanging out back here," the boy said acting tough while wiping his tears away.
Himiko thought for a moment before squeezing behind the machine and taking a seat next to the surprised boy.
"Were you scared of being alone?" Himiko asked in a soft gentle haunted voice.
"I wasn't scared." The boy puffed his chest out. "I'm a big boy that's not scared of anything."
Himiko just gave him an amused sad smile. "There's nothing with being scared. Being scared doesn't make you stronger or weaker than anyone else."
"It doesn't?" The boy asked tilting his head in confusion. Himiko almost cooed over how cute he was.
"No, it doesn't. It's what you do when you're scared that really matters." Himiko curled herself into a ball. "Do you let yourself freeze up and cry? Or do you do your best to keep moving forward?"
The boy went quiet as he thought about the question.
"Do you keep moving forward when you're scared?" The boy asked softly.
"Yes." Himiko played with a strand of her hair. "There was a time I allowed my fear to control me. It kept me from truly enjoying life. Honestly, I'm still scared that I'd be alone again but I can't let that stop me from enjoying my time with them."
The boy stared at Himiko for a few moments for shaking his head.
"You sure you're supposed to be having a talk like this with me? Seems pretty deep topic for a stranger."
"A stranger is just a friend you haven't met," Himiko said holding out a fist to the boy.
The boy stared at the fist before giving it a fist bump.
"You're weird," the boy said. "But you're cool as well. I'm Samidare."
"I'm Himiko. Now come on. Your sister was looking for you. Don't want to keep her waiting."
Samidare's eyes widen as he began to crawl out. Himiko giggled a little as she followed after him.
As the two were walking towards the front, they came across the teen with magenta highlights. Himiko recognized them as the one that pointed her in the right direction.
"Ah hey, so you were looking for the kid. Glad that works out," the teen said before continuing to walk by them.
Samidare watched the person walk off before muttering to themselves.
"I thought those teens were scary. Were they actually nice?"
"Sometimes, you can't judge a person by how they look. It's better to judge them on their actions."
The two continued their walk to the front of the arcade where Mina, Kyoka, Tsuyu, and Satsuki were waiting.
"Sami," Tsuyu said rushing the boy and wrapping him in a hug. "I was worried about you."
"I'm okay Tsu. Himiko-nee found me." Samidare tried to wiggle free but Tsuyu was not having any of that as she carried him in her hug.
"Thank you for your help," Tsuyu said bowing slightly. "I really appreciate you helping out like this."
"It's no problem at all!" Mina said.
"Yeah, we're glad we could help." Kyoka gave them a beaming grin.
"It's what being a hero is all about yeah?" Himiko said grinning.
"Yeah, you girls were my hero today," Tsuyu admitted. "We best be off before it gets too late. Have a good day."
"Bye bye!" Satsuki said waving her arms as Tsuyu picked her up.
"See ya," Samidare said trying to act cool. "And thank you."
"Bye Tsu, Satsuki, Samidare," the three teens said as Tsuyu carried her siblings away.
The three watched for a little before the Asui family disappeared into the crowd.
"Do you think being around Midori-bro is slowly turning us into trouble magnets too?" Mina asked.
"Yup," Himiko said immediately.
"Oh most definitely," Kyoka said with a snort, "But hey, at least we did some good today."
Himiko and Mina wore proud smiles. Mina suddenly began bouncing breaking the serious mood.
"Now that business is over, we can go have some fun!" Mina said taking Kyoka's and Himiko's hands. "I can hear the DDR machines calling our names."
Himiko giggled to herself as Kyoka wore an exasperated face as they were dragged into the depths of the arcade. Yet Himiko knew that neither one of them would change this. It was a lot easier to keep moving forward when surrounded by friends.
Note: Samidere would be around 7 and Satsuki would be around 3 at the time of this fic.
So this chapter was on a much lighter side compared to the last one. I wanted to take the time and develop friendships some more and show a bit of how Izuku has been influencing them.
Tsu and her siblings got to make an appearance! I love Tsu and I look forward to writing how she and Izuku get along. Which will be way down the line of chapters I've got planned so far.
Himiko and Samidere bonding was a random idea that I ended up really liking so I hope it was alright.
A sincere thank you for all the comments I receive. I'm honored that I got a regular group of folks that comment on every chapter. Means a lot to me to see folks enjoying the story. Thank you always for giving me ideas as well. I always enjoy playing around with them.
I hope you all have a great day!
PK OUT!