Just for fun, find the ACOTAR and Miraculous references.
It's Monday.
A new week, a new day.
But old feelings.
My resentment toward Endeavor and Hanada fermented over the weekend.
But I still feel a pang of comfort when I see Hanada reading in class.
I stifle that pang immediately as I walk toward my seat. I know that Hanada knows that I'm here. But she has the decency to not look up from her book at me. Her only acknowledgment of my presence is a straightening of the shoulders and an upright posture. Even when I pull a pink rain lily from her hair, she remains stoic. I take my seat, and we spend the next twenty minutes before class starts in mutual silence. By the time Math class starts, we haven't spoken a word to each other.
But that all changes when Ectoplasm-sensei announces a math project to us. "This unit is about conic sections. Conic sections are nondegenerate curves generated by plane intersections with one or two nappes of a cone. They exist all over the world in man-made and natural creations. There are four kinds of conic sections: circles, ellipses, parabolas, and hyperbolas. But instead of having a unit exam, your final grade for the unit will be a project. Your task is to draw a school playground on the poster-size graph paper that I will provide in a minute. This playground must have a theme, and all structures and equipment must utilize conic sections. You will also have to write down the equations for each of these structures and create a key, so I know which equation corresponds with which structure." Part of the class is anxious, another is confused, and the last is neutral. I fall into the third. Sounds daunting but doable. "You will work in pairs. Since there are 21 of you, three of you will form a group." Ectoplasm-sensei lists off the pairs: Midoriya and Bakugou, whose expressions show that this is a terrible idea; Kirishima and Kaminari; Uraraka and Asui; Yaoyorozou, Jirou, and Ashido; and so on.
I'm unfazed until Sensei announces my name. "And lastly, Todoroki with Hanada."
WELL, DAMN ME STRAIGHT TO HELL!
The whole point was to not talk to Hanada. This is the complete opposite of that. There's no way we can do this project without communicating. It's only been two days since our friendship ended on bad terms. Ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous! Out of the corner of my eye, Hanada gulps audibly and visibly and twists her hands. She must know that I'm observing her because she doesn't face me. Instead, she gets up and walks toward Ectoplasm-sensei as he hands out the graph paper to each group. She requests to change partners. That irritates me. I don't need your help with this. But Sensei denies the request. He says that he's seen that we are good students and amiable, so we would make a good match. I disagree. When Hanada returns, I get up and demand the same. My request is also denied. Sensei gives each of us a strange look as he tells the class to begin preparations.
She takes a deep breath and schools her expression before turning to face me. Her voice is businesslike and formal. "Since we can't switch partners, can we agree to work and only discuss the project until the due date. After that, we can forget we ever had to collaborate with one another." She extends her hand. I take it.
"Sure. Just the project. Then we never have to talk again," I reply just as impassively, even though I'm feeling the opposite of impassion.
She nods and looks at the graph paper on my desk. "What theme do you suggest?"
I think for a second. "Something that has a lot of variety. Something broad."
She considers it. "I agree. Perhaps nature, like Sensei said. There's a lot to choose from. Or perhaps sweets."
"I think the nature one is better. Animals, storms, climates, plants."
"Alright. I'm opting for either animals or plants. What about you?:
"Plants." My gaze falls onto the remaining rain lilies flowers in her hair. "Specifically, flowers."
She curls her lip slightly. "Just general flowers, or do you have a sub-theme in mind?"
"Sub-theme?"
"Flowers by season, color, time of day, location. Sub-themes like that."
An idea sparks in my head. "Let's do the flowers by season and time of day: winter, spring, summer, autumn, dawn, day, and night." I pull the graph paper toward me and sketch out the x- and y-axes. Then I draw seven crude circles and point to each one. "Here will be flowers that bloom during the winter. Here for spring. Summer. Autumn. The last three circles will be for flowers we decide not to incorporate in the season circles; flowers that bloom at dawn, day, and night."
She looks fondly at the seventh circle. "Blossoms of the dark," she whispers. "I like it. So now that we have the theme decided, how do you want to split roles? I think one of us should be the artist and the other the equation maker."
"If we split roles, then the artist will have to take home the paper every night to draw. How will the equation maker generate the equations?"
Hanada frowns as she thinks about it. "When the artist brings the paper to school, the equation maker can take a picture of the paper with his or her phone and work on the equations at home."
That might work. "In that case, I can be the artist." Suddenly I remember our game of Twenty Questions. We had talked about my artistic and her writing talents. Seems like those talents will be useful now.
"I'll write the equations," she affirms.
We spend the rest of class working as companionably as possible.
Oddly, we work well together even if we're no longer friends.
That should feel satisfactory.
But it doesn't.