Momo gently put her hand over Akira's left hand, curling her fingers in between his, gently holding the back of his hand. Akira doesn't move his hand away, Momo can see that Akira isn't uncomfortable with the contact. She smiled warml at him, and then, for the first time in weeks… Akira smiled.

Momo couldn't get that moment out of her head. The cold, distant Akira… smiling! It happened weeks ago, the First Term Final Exams are only a week away, and she still can't get her mind off of it! Even if his mouth didn't smile that much, just a small curve up at either end, his eyes certainly did. Even in classes she couldn't get her mind around it. That was until Aizawa interrupted her daydreaming.

"Yaoyorozu," Momo would visibly jump in her seat at Aizawa's voice next to her. "I would suggest actually paying attention to class instead of daydreaming like some child. Now answer the question on the board."

Momo gulped, she's supposed to be the smart, sensible one, not daydreaming about some boy! What would her parents say? She looks up at the board to see the question, 'when did quirk use become legal?' Since when were we learning about this? She had to answer though, or at least make a guess. She cleared her throat and spoke nervously.

"1980?"

Aizawa frowned. "I hoped that you'd redeem yourself, unfortunately, hope isn't enough in some cases, anyone else?"

A few moments pass, before Akira's hand slowly rises into the air. "Go ahead Akira, give me some faith."

"I'm not 100% sure, but was it in 1991? That was the end of the Cold War era, and although quirks had been around for about a century at this point, about 60% of the population had quirks in contrast to the 80% today so proper rules would have been needed to have passed."

"Well I'm glad at least one person knows their history."

God why did he have to get it right? Momo's supposed to be the smartest one in the class! She's supposed to know all this! But she just can't be mad, why can't she can't be mad? She knows she's friends with Akira, but that's it! There's nothing else to it! Right?

Her thoughts are cut off once again by Aizawa's voice once again.

"Now for those of you who were paying attention for the entire lesson, Yaoyorozu, the First Term Finals begin next week, you'll receive more information about it soon but if you aren't already studying and training more, I suggest you should start - class dismissed."

The rumbling of voices filled the room as Momo stood up to pack her bag, but her futile attempt at peace was once again interrupted by Mina.

"So," Mina spoke teasingly. "Having had difficulty paying attention recently? If I remember correctly, your attention has been going downhill ever since you went to visit Akira in the hospital, did something happen~?"

Momo lets out a soft sigh, Mina has been teasing Momo about Akira ever since he first arrived, why did she think this time would be any different?

"Mina, for the last time, we're just friends!"

"Keep telling yourself Momo." Mina giggled, clearly loving how easy it is for her to tease Momo.

Momo tilts her head towards Akira's seat, she can't help herself, but just as always, Akira somehow manages to leave the classroom too fast for Momo to keep track of him.

"Momo, are you sure nothing happened?"

Momo sighs again. "Yes, I'm sure, now go to the cafeteria, I'll join you later, I just need to… finish some work stuff Present Mic gave me."

"Yeah, sure," Mina responds, clearly not believing her, before leaving to go to the cafeteria.

Once Mina is out of sight, Momo hurries out of the classroom to try and find Akira. Where could he have gone? His locker? No. The library? Not there. The Study Room? Not there either. Momo can think of one more place he could be - the cafeteria - but she can't go there because Mina will be there waiting.

Momo decides to go outside, and walk past the cafeteria and sneak a look through one of the windows to see if she can see him. As she walks around the school, the cool breeze tickling her skin, she passes the training area, and-

"Fuck!"

Huh? That sounds like Akira… what is he doing in the training area at lunch? Aizawa did say to start training more now, but what is he so frustrated about? She walks closer to the training area to see what's happening, and she sees a giant cement slab in the middle of the area? Akira must've gotten help from Cementoss for this then, but why?

Momo looks down to the bottom of the cement slab, to see Akira with his left sleeve rolled up, a few visible scars marking it - much to Momo's surprise - and in his right hand he's holding some sort of… sickle? But it's all red and… odd looking.

Akira slashes at the cement slab, he's clearly trying to break it, but he's just as clearly having difficulty with it. He throws the sickle to the ground, making it disappear.

"Fuck! This shouldn't be this hard! The fuck is wrong with me!?"

Momo gasps - the profanity of this man! Granted, Momo's mind might not be the cleanest, occasionally thinking a word or two that her parents would consider heinous, but saying it out loud? That's something she would never do.

Akira reaches towards his left arm, where another sickle seems to be pulled out of his arm? Momo squints her eyes to try to have a better look, is that his quirk? Some kind of weapon summoning? No, she's read about all sorts of weapon based quirks, but she's never heard of something like this!

Finally, Akira manages to break the cement. "Yes! Fuck yeah! I fucking did it!"

God! Momo wishes he would stop swearing so much, she wants to barge up to him and tell him to stop swearing like that, but then her cover would be blown. She can't help but feel happy about his success though. But she should go, Mina's waiting for her after all.

Momo rushes to the cafeteria, not bothering to go to the lunch cue, Mina will probably have some leftover food Momo can pinch anyway. Mina looks up at Momo as she sits down across from her in the cafeteria.

"You took your time…" Mina is clearly suspicious.

"Yeah, sorry, it took a bit longer than I anticipated."

"Sure…" Mina's scepticism is obvious. "The final exams are soon, I can't help but feel nervous."

"Yeah, I know what you're talking about." Momo smiled reassuringly. "But I'm sure you'll do just fine."

Mina chuckled as if Momo just said a hilarious joke. "Yeah, sure I will."

"You will! I mean it, you have an amazing quirk, I believe in you."

"Thanks… that means a lot."

The day of the final exam has arrived! Momo and Akira had gotten even closer, with Mina's taunting getting more intense, and Momo noticing Akira getting slightly more social, but that wasn't what she should have been concentrating on. She was just explained what the final exams of the term were going to be by Aizawa, and luckily she was paying enough attention to know what was going on.

The students were being put in pairs to fight the teachers, but there's 21 students, so naturally there's going to be a team of three, and Momo can't tell if she was lucky or not. She was paired with Shoto, only Shoto. Great. Being paired with her… crush? Does Momo still like Shoto? Akira… nevermind. Momo can't focus on that now. She had just been briefed on what's happening, and her team is second?

At least that's better than Akira. He'd been paired with Kirishima and Sato, and they're going right away, only a few minutes to prepare. Momo should probably be preparing with Shoto right now… but she just has to watch Akira in his bout against Cementoss.

Cementoss… now that Momo thinks about it, the training session Momo stumbled upon the other week must've been a regular thing that the whole faculty knows about, so what is it about Akira that's so special?

But Momo had no time to think, as Akira's exam started with a bang.

"Ahh!" Kirishima shouted as he punched through the first cement wall that Cementoss made, Sato running next to him, Akira running behind.

"Kirishima!" Akira yelled so he could be heard. "Don't use all of your energy at once, save some for when we need it!"

"Alright."

"Why did they put you with us, Akira?" Sato asked as he punched through another wall.

"How should I know? It's not like I can do much about Cementoss."

"Well if you at least do something, that'll be greatly appreciated pal!"

Pal… Kirishima just called Akira his pal… what's this odd feeling in his heart, it's unusual… it's true happiness.

"Right!" Akira nodded, but maybe at the worst time. Kirishima and Sato had used too much energy, and now Cementoss has all three of them trapped in a cement ball… almost.

"Shit!" Kirishima panted.

"Hold on guys!" Akira shouted. He had barely avoided getting captured because Cementoss was barely off with where he created the ball. But Akira isn't in the clear yet.

"No!" Sato's voice could be heard from inside the ball. "It'll take too long! I know you're strong Akira, you can do it, put him in the handcuffs and we win."

The handcuffs… he still had that. "Right!" Akira wasted no time. He dashed around the ball, and ran towards Cementoss, expertly weaving his was around the cement walls being made in his path. Momo's breath catches in her throat as she watches in anticipation. She holds her breath and…

"Yes!" Akira yelled, exhausted. He has succeeded, somehow. But Momo can't concentrate on that now, she has her own exam to focus on, and that's what she needs to do.

Akira however, certainly has the time. He walks back to one of the private rooms with Kirishima and Sato, celebrating. Sato was definitely excited.

"Woo! Nice one Akira, didn't know you had it in ya!"

"Oh come on Sato, of course he did, god so manly!"

Akira rolled his eyes. "What is your obsession with manliness, man?"

Kirishima just shrugs. "Just happened one day."

"Fair point."

"Hey Akira," Sato says from the other side of the table that the three are sitting at now. "You and Momo have been getting pretty close, haven't you? Is there anything you two haven't told us?"

Akira quickly becomes worried, hasn't told them? What does he mean by that? Of course he has secrets! He needs to keep them hidden though, there's no way anyone can find out that-

"Yeah," Kirishima interrupts Akira's thought process. "You and Momo, are you going out?"

"What?" Akira spoke bewildered. "No, no no no, no. I'm not interested in her. Yeah she's my only real friend in this place, but I've only been here six weeks."

"Hey!" Kirishima sounded offended. "I'm your friend, right? We've eaten lunch together so often, we talk every day! Are you saying we aren't friends?"

"We're friends? Really?" His face might not say it, his voice might only hint it, but Akira is ecstatic. Momo and Kirishima being his friends? That's better than he could've asked for. "Hell yeah man! Sure we're friends!"

"Right on!"

But around this time, Akira wasn't the only one celebrating, it had been a while since Momo's success against Aizawa, and now she's in a separate prep room, helping Mina prepare, although she should probably have known by now that Mina would use this moment to her advantage.

"So…" Mina started, as usual. "How'd Akira do in his exam?"

"Well, he did really well, why do you ask?"

"I just wanted to know if you were paying attention to your boyfriends exam~"

"My boy-" Momo's face is bright red. "No! He isn't my boyfriend! Never will be, we are not dating!"

Mina giggled. "Sureee you aren't Yaoyorozu." A beep sound is heard from Mina's watch. "Oh, look at that, I need to go for my exam, wish me luck."

And without another word, she was gone. Momo was now alone, with nothing but her thoughts. All she could think about was Mina's taunting… why is that what her mind is on? Oh no… there's no denying it anymore…

She's in love with Akira.