maneuvering through

Just As When...

“So you qualify for the scholarship program from HSPC? That’s--that's great news...What...school?”

“University of Quirk Sciences and Technology..” She answers, hands clasped firmly together. “In Osaka...”

“Oh.”

“They said it’ll benefit me in the long run. There are a lot of creations  prohibited, so this opportunity may change my circumstances.” She looks away, her free hair flowing along with the passing wind. The sun is close to setting, and the sky is as orange as the other day. Only this time, they concluded their long days of training and finally be the heroes they strived for.

Yaoyorozu is brilliant.  He knows that even before everybody realizes. She can create more than the rules allow her to.  If she puts her mind on it, she can create any possible counter against them. Anything.

But more than the silent happiness for the girl was the sinking feeling starting to scale heavily in his chest. It’s not like Osaka is even a city abroad. For goodness sake, it’s within Japan, yet, he felt like he would not be seeing her. He will not have the chance to see her often, not even during joint missions in the near future, nor on billboards or even commercials. There are a lot of words he needed to be spoken, but what Shouto only manages is...

“We wish you good luck then. I know you will blow them away.”

She looks to the side, almost too melancholic. “You as well, with the rest of the class, I’ll be watching you, from the sidelines.”

“Recommended student again, huh?” he intones, quirking a smile.

“Iida-san said the same..” she supplements, eyes lighting up at his rare display of expression.

The thing about him being around Yaoyorozu is that she made words come as easily as water and as difficult as confessing a crime.

“Osaka isn’t a long way away...maybe...maybe...we... Jirou can come to visit you sometimes?” He doesn’t get why he has to involve Jirou's name in the equation when, in reality, he’d rather see Yaoyorozu alone.

Blood orange skies filled her eyes and the soft rays of the sun washed over the pallor of her face. He’s never seen such a beautiful sunset until now. “That would be wonderful, Todoroki-san, but..” she hesitates, a dagger finds his pulsing heart.

‘But. What a sad word.’

“I don’t think we would. I mean you all would have your time taken away from you. I don’t want to press any of you. And also, I think I’ll be pretty occupied as well...”

He can always make time, he’s sure of that.

She held no reservations in the flow of her words and his heart sank along with the setting sun. Silence in the form of the passing wind brushed their bangs, and she always looked beautiful with her hair down.

“I’ll try to keep in touch, at least..” she smiled meekly at him.

“I... I  hope so...”

She never did.


Most of the desks were empty when Momo visited the registry building for the second time that day, save for some students and student assistants. A staff meeting was being held to last until lunch.

She, along with the other students who made it to the scholarship list, was seated waiting for the person before them to resurface. Momo couldn’t count it in her fingers the times she was breathing in and out. Looking back at the corner where the person before her should emerge, she couldn’t help but feel anxious. She had done interviews, spoke before a crowd, so why was she shaking?

Even footsteps rounded out the corner, and that Momo knew she was up next.


Momo took a sharp intake after the last question. And she felt she had been in the room longer than she ever desired.

Mera-san, her interviewer from the commission, was now glancing with half-lidded eyes at her. “Have you decided on the agency?”

“I have my prospects already but I haven’t sent any applications yet.”

Mera hummed and nodded. “Of course. I wouldn’t be surprised if they personally came to you.”

Her heart made tiny flips when he rose to his seat and offered a hand for a shake.

“Before I forget...” He turned to her. “Is 8 pm tonight okay?,” the commission officer queried about her scheduled quirk demonstration, “ I don’t want to stay that long but I would greatly appreciate it if we could get out of this immediately and move on with our lives?”

Momo hardly kept her smile.

“Of course, Mera-san, I’ll  be there..”

“The city hall, there would be three of us from the commission, and a pro-hero who is interested to be an audience.”


Momo was on cloud nine.

Everything was falling into place.

Her graduation.

Her future.

And maybe, and hopefully her life.

Happiness filled her to the brim as she walked along the path that led to the gates. Everything around her was radiant and beautiful, and she'd never felt this free. So free, so light, finally reaping the hard work she sowed for three years brought her the same elation she had when she graduated UA. 

Her classmates' success was another fuel for her to work religiously in her craft. And then there’s Todoroki.

Her all too perfect classmate and friend. And one of the reasons she had to stop her thumb from tapping her contacts. She was arguing then if she should connect with him. They shared moments back in UA, moments that introduced her more to the ice and fire hero. But, didn’t find it feasible to take the chance and bother him with a ‘hello’. Their relationship she tabbed purely as friendship, but certain times she almost convinced herself that there was something between them that was beyond amicable camaraderie in the way he spared her a glance.

She overthinks, but emotions weren’t something she desired to exercise them on. Feelings could be treacherous. Besides, she never deemed him to be the type to be entertaining such distractions, despite earning hints of interest from admirers.

He paid them no heed. And so was she.

Kaminari and Jirou became an item during the last days of the first semester of their third year. Though nothing had changed from their usual bickering, Jirou made fun of Kaminari, teasing that would soon end up in sweet cuddles and pecks on cheeks. Among them, the class also suspected a blossoming relationship between Midoriya and Uraraka. She knew back then during their first year that Uraraka was crushing on someone, as Ashido speculated her symptoms. She was way too stiff about school back then that she didn’t bother digging deeper into that conversation.

Responsibilities prematurely fell heavily on them, and she was again hit with the realization that life was too short and unpredictable to just push people away. And so, she allowed herself, even from afar, to watch and cheer quietly for the boy her heart and eyes elected.

And a promise of, someday.


Momo walked through the door to her favorite spot in the diner.

She felt she had just dreamed that night. The coincidence and the timing of the moment. It seemed like a divine entity arranged the meeting to happen. Being at the right time and the right place. Momo plucked out her phone, deciding to update her social media.

Amazed at the total number of notifications registered in angry red, scanning through the usernames. Mostly from unknown accounts, some belonged to her classmates, the majority were of Kaminari’s and Jirou’s. Swiping back the long notification, she started reading the recent ones, her eyes fixed on a username foreign to her. Unknown reactors were prevalent, but her heart made a flip on this one. It had something to do with the shades of red and white in the profile picture. He was looking away and slightly lowered his head, so that all she could see were the stark opposing colors of his hair.

‘No way'. She thought, ‘Must be some poser'.

Momo didn’t bother looking at her food being laid before her as she started skimming her profile.

shouto

Tapping the notification bearing his name, led to a photo of her from almost three years ago.

‘A stalking poser?!’  Her brows twisted into a frown. Just as when she’s having a momentous day. She would never forgive whoever this was posing as shouto and use his name and image to stalk her. After all, she never imagined him as someone who would bother with social media. She went through his account, which, unfortunately, had nothing. Her suspicion grew when the stalker wasn’t even listed as one of her friends.

‘How on earth was he able to go through my profile? I set my pictures to be visible only to friends of friends. Did he... in his way add one of her friends too...’

Fortunately, his list of friends was visible to non-friends.

‘He has... Two? What in tarnation..?’

She leaned back. She was already ready to block its users when she saw those usernames belonged to her closest friends.

theLIGHTNINGthiefkyouka
earphoneJackofficial

‘Kyouka and Kaminari?’

She clicked back on the photo the stalker reacted to and went through the usernames that she had liked. They were from university students, some relatives, strangers who were friends with her friends, her former classmates in UA. None of the user shouto.

‘Did he change his mind? Or maybe he accidentally clicked it and took his like back? He’s friends with Kaminari and Kyouka, but not with Iida and Midoriya? Odd? If this is the real Shouto, he probably had their whole class added, including her.’

The wafting aroma of her food dragged her out of her self-inquisition.

‘Right. Important matters first'. She convinced herself. ‘8 pm tonight at the City Hall.’

‘Wait. Todoroki-san?! What if he’s inviting me for dinner?!’

She quickly tapped her phone for any messages from him that she was unaware of. ‘None'.

‘Should she cancel?’

‘What if he’s to leave tomorrow?’ He didn’t mention how long he'd be staying in Osaka.

‘Or maybe she could take him along, then have dinner later?’

No matter.

This shameless stalker should be thankful she’d spared him her wrath. I’ll deal with you later.

Momo finally picks her chopsticks from its case and starts enjoying her food.