a valentine

Inexplicable

***It ain't Valentine's but I just had this idea after I read an explanation about what happened in the LN. And I feel like dropping it here before my anxiety strikes again.

Valentines Day --- a day when girls are nothing short of anticipation, mostly --- Also, a day that sends Momo back to the same day just a year ago. It was odd because, of all people, he is the least she expects to inquire about the event. But at the same time, understands why that person did so. Shouto Todoroki is understandably quite clueless on such social occasions.

Their short discourse threw her off for the first few seconds but managed to provide him with an explanation that is not quite hitting the exact answer. Yeah, she may have said that Valentine's Day is the day you honor your closest friends. The first idea that came to her mind, that somehow shed some enlightenment upon the curious hero-in-training. So when the day came and she learned that said boy gave his closest friends, Midoriya and Iida chocolates, it didn't come as a shocker, for her at least. But it might be the situation for his closest friends.

Earlier that day, right before Aizawa gave them their homeroom activities, said boy yet again asked for her audience. That few minutes after lunch, he added. She may have an inkling of an idea of what it could be about, Valentine's is a few days away. And while she waits on one of the school yard's benches, she was internally screaming, overthinking that he may or someone may have exactly explained what Valentine's is all about, and he was about to confront her about it. But it felt odd for him to do it after nearly a year after she said that. It would have been logical if he confronted her after he have those chocolates delivered to his friends but Shouto Todoroki wasn't the confrontational type. In fact, they have seemed to improve their rapport and he oftentimes comes to her for answers. Yet, as it dawned on her, he is also the kind to hold grudges.

Her fingers squeezed the hem of her skirt.

'Is he... had he been holding a grudge against me?'

"Yaoyorozu."

"Yes! Todoroki-san!" she answered too quickly, jumping out of her seat, searching for the source of the voice.

"Are you alright?" he asked without any hint of her ridiculous paranoia. She turned in the direction of the voice and saw him regarding her with subtle concern.

"Y-yes."

His expression remains the same but with the tiniest flicker of doubt that was immediately wiped away after she assured him with a mildly quivering smile.

Todoroki shoves his hands in his trousers as the ambient soft chatter of the UA students swelled over their shared shell of silenced atmosphere. His lips are drawn into a tight line, pursing ever so slightly like he is keeping hold over spilling sentences. And his eyes are as enigmatic as ever. Momo had to break the permeating awkward silence before her head goes full-throttle on overthinking again.

"Yo-you have something to say to me?"

As if he is nudged to return to focus, he cleared his throat.

"I have something to ask of you if you don't mind."

'Ah.' She thought. 'It was one of the curious cases of Shouto Todoroki.'

Relieved, Momo held her hands to her chest. But then he added, " I thought about this over and decided to come to you for answers."

He said, looking determinedly at her now, meeting her puzzled gaze.

"Yo-you thought this over?"

"I think it is best if I explain to you first." He says without a flicker of emotion.

"E-eh?" confusion and interest are accumulating at an accelerating rate.

"You might have heard that I gave Midoriya and Iida chocolates last year..."

Alerted, Momo felt the need to explain herself for the misunderstanding but the boy, ever purpose-driven beat her to it.

"I have told my sister about it and she thought it was nice to give friends chocolates but... she said that...Valentines is also a day for girls to offer chocolates to the person they like...along with a confession."

He had said it in his infamous stoic manner that Momo felt worse of having been vague with the explanation of the occasion. Burning in her spot, Momo felt her embarrassment mounting with every thrust of his blunt words. Now, Todoroki-san would think she is unreliable, much worse a liar. She searches the brick surface under their feet as she thinks of an explanation.

"Well, you see, Todoroki-san..."

The other seems to overlook the uneasiness that is beginning to radiate from the creation girl and speak anyways.

"What does she mean with "confession"? What does a girl need to confess?"

'Oh.'

For a moment, Momo is overwhelmed with the question he had prepared to squeeze the answer out of her. It very well proved that he indeed spent profound thinking on the subject matter. And that his curiosity needed to be quenched with a thorough and concise answer. This time.

"I'll try to explain it to the best of my capabilities, Todoroki-san," she says, gathering her thoughts about the topic.

"Please do," he said, "Shall we take a seat then?"

He had her whipped her head down at him who already suited himself on the bench and was now asking her with his eyes to do the same. Feeling awfully heated she took the seat next to him, leaving a space in between them. He kept his eyes on her even as she made herself comfortable.

"Well, your sister is right," she began, "It was different in some countries but, here in Japan, the girls offer chocolates to the person... they like. Someone they wanted a chance to be more than just friends." She tried her best not to choke on the last sentence as she went on, "But yeah, giving chocolates can be a friendly gesture, too. Just a simple token of gratitude for the friendship. Anyone could do that."

"Hmm." Looking apprised, quiet for a second but then he whips his attention back at her, "So what about the "confession part"?"

"Uh...yeah..." She swallowed. This conversation albeit easy on the head, talking about it with the opposite sex, much more someone she looks up to is quite a sweaty endeavor. She can't resist the gravity that guided her to his driven eyes.

"It's when girls harbor romantic feelings for someone... and Valentines is a day where they offer that someone chocolates and... confess those feelings."

Todoroki maintained an impassive expression, keeping his eyes sternly glued at her slightly abashed disposition, burning her in place. Not that she can't withstand. Maybe just too much to take considering her own blossoming attraction to the young prodigy.

"Can't they confess in regular days?" he prodded earnestly, unaware of how the benign question affects the girl.

The depth of his voice unsettles her for a bit while thinking through if she had answered the question, nearly precise this time.

"Er--- yeah," she stumbles, the first thought that came to mind. " That'll do but Valentine's Day is also known as Heart Day so..." Both her 'keeping it cool' façade and the words wane simultaneously, her mind internally groaning for divine courage to last until her answers will suffice.

"That makes sense," he said, bringing a hand to his chin, gaze low. Then turned to look at her again nearly startling her out of her wits.

"How does one get to realize they have feelings for that person though? Are there some kind of signs?"

Now that Yaoyorozu's mind is on a whirl, bombarded by Todoroki's nonchalant yet direct interrogation. She felt that she is losing grasp of her learned and observed answer as his curiosity dragged on.

She heaved out a deep sigh, gathering her thoughts. Calm and composed, Momo. She chanted repeatedly inside her head.

"We like..." she made a rough clearing sound from the back of her throat, out of embarrassment or uncertainty, she didn't conclude, but went with the significant information she knows, " ...a person when the thought of them keeps us at night. Always anticipate when will the next time you see the person again. Having this odd need to make them proud, of you. That person makes you feel different in a good way. It was...having this inexplicably light feeling around them. And just by simply seeing them improves your mood and brightens your entire day..." The words eventually died at the tip of her tongue realizing it wasn't at all just coming out of her head but from an untouched corner of her heart that remained nonexistent until now.

Momo makes the small mistake to snag a glance at him when he isn't looking where she allowed herself to drink in his stupefied impression.

His brows furrowed as he chews on the knowledge. She could read his lips mouthing the last of her statement. It was adorable seeing he had other questions aside from the usual academics and heroics.

"Seems like that person is special then." He concluded, nodding in understanding as he settled his gaze on her.

"You got it, Todoroki-san" She smiled, slightly exposing the tiny jitters in her voice. Wincing internally that Todoroki seems to grasp the gist out of her verbosity. He isn't the fifth in class for no reason.

"There's more about that person that you liked. Even the slightest, frivolous things..."

For hardly a second, his gaze softened, his undivided attention locked onto her.

"I like your smile."

Momo is forced to shut her mouth close after he said that without warning. Unbothered and moving easily past the unexpected compliment he asks again, "So, what about the inexplicable light feeling? Have you had it before?"

"Um... I really haven't felt those..." she gulps in her words, sensing that he had been paying really keen attention to her. He had her tangled in those vivid eyes she can't dare to look away like it was an inescapable void and that she was lost in it.

"Oh." He mustered monotonously, "It was that... different?"

"What I do know, Todoroki-san, is that it was a force far stronger than anything that ever existed. It was a feeling that once you got yourself in, it was going to be difficult to turn away."

"Sounds like a quirk gone out of control."

"No. Not at all. It's a feeling. Like just one look at that person and... you don't seem too eager to look away. That, that more you look the more you got yourself trapped. Like a..."

"Like a quicksand?" he supplied nonchalantly, like a natural answer.

"Yeah...like a... quicksand." Momo nods. "Moreover, you wanted to make that person proud because they..."

"They make you feel different... in a good way." He finishes.

"Yeah. Something like that." Flashing a spontaneous smile of agreement. Her cheeks in a peachy hue. Quite surprised that her heart rate isn't as embarrassingly alarming as when she had to answer Todoroki's questions.

Just then, Shouto found himself unable to gaze away.

"I...I feel I understand more than I ever did before coming here to you. You seem to know everything, Yaoyorozu, as expected."

Inadvertently smiling exiguously in response.

"Not everything, Todoroki-san." She says meaningfully.

"It is probably much better if I come to you again once I found someone whom I can't seem to find myself to look away from then..."

"W-What?! You see Todoroki-san, you have to make sure that it wasn't resentment that was keeping your eyes on that person... it's the..."

"The inexplicable light feeling." He completes, with a delighted tremble. It is a good change having Todoroki smile more often. It is a good look for him.

"Yeah..."

"I think I get it..." He announces determinedly.

"Hm..."She hums rather relieved, realizing he had not been having those light inexplicable feelings around someone. Yet. Simultaneously, she feels a tinge of sting knowing he neither felt it around her.

He stands from his reprieve signaling that the time he spent with her had finally come to an end. She is down on her feelings when he breaches her thoughts again.

"By the way..." he says, straightening the girl upright on her back.

"Yes, Todoroki-san?"

"Do you have someone in mind, Yaoyorozu?"

Her mind shut down for a moment, eyes wide and mouth slightly ajar. Not a hint expecting the question.

"What do you mean?"

The look he loaned her spared no room for travesty.

"Someone you'll be giving chocolates." He answered a matter-of-factly.

The question hurling onto her like a rushing boomerang she can't escape.

"Uh... maybe?"

He tilted his head slightly to look her in the face, their eyes meeting at a standstill.

A beat. "Can I have it?" He mustered, "Your chocolates."

Momo blinked, feeling stupid for having him repeat. "I beg your pardon?"

"Your chocolates, can I have them?"

"Eh?!"

It is hard to tell whether Todoroki is serious or simply just bluffing for he had always been on point. With a few exceptional moments here and there where he, unwittingly, makes a joke.

Realizing he won't make any move unless she gave him a definite answer, she relented. "O-of course, Todoroki-san... I shall give you one. B-but I am not actually certain about what you would like so..."

"Anything from you will be nothing but splendid, Yaoyorozu."

Whether it was an upward curl or just a figment of her imaginative nature but one thing she was sure of, Todoroki-san will be expecting her chocolates.