maneuvering through

Prelude to Fall

Days collected into weeks, and weeks massed into months. Summer had slowly lost its sweltering touch, and despite half-loving the sunshine, Momo embraced the sweep of the early fall breeze rushing through her hair.

Hero works still gravitate around the prevailing case of the quirk-enhancing drugs that made missions more frequent. These had brought the problem to the core. Special Requests and missions mounted more than the heroes to handle them. The pink head of their secretary rises above the mounting pile of paperwork, mainly administrative work.

The same tasks which had led her to spend more late nights buried on the papers as of late. A week almost. Being the kind and helpful co-worker that she was, she volunteered to assist the young woman.

Nevertheless, Momo was swamped.

Momo was sure her bags were sagging from sleep deprivation.

"This was done, yes?" tired as she was, it was her reflexes that pulled her head up to the voice albeit briefly from the staggering pile of filed reports, registering a hip of blurred red before quickly dropping her focus back to work. An eye-catching color she remembered to be another hero's trademark color other than herself. She didn't understand why she had to look again but curiosity won her over and caved in.

Her heart jumped to her throat as she spied the least sociable person in the building peering down at her.

She hoped he didn't detect the surprise in her eyes as she dropped her gaze low, panicking for some reason.

"Yeah." She managed after clearing her throat, skimming through the pages. She noticed her desk was being freed of the finished pile but had said nothing of it, flipping the folder in her hand close and dropping it to priority.

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Momo relaxed her back on her swivel chair flexing her hands for the day's accomplishment, briefly closing her eyes to rest. Shouto had his hands full as well, so they have hardly seen each other for the past few days. She missed those nights when he would come around, hang out and just talk about work and random things. The weight of their profession was slowly pulling the last of her resolve, that she sometimes confides to the memory of fun days to calm her throbbing nerves.

Her hard work and perseverance for the past few days paid off, accomplishing her tasks ahead of deadlines, and was now contemplating visiting him.

'Yeah. Maybe.'

She blinked an eye open at the same time a dead leaf beyond the glass walls fell aimlessly like a feather onto the pavement. The trees were slowly shedding off their share of autumn, but it was yet for the auburn to take their place to visually announce the season.

'Fall.'

A breeze has dispersed the fallen leaf carrying it away as it tumbled down the sidewalk. She watched the mundane scenario with a satisfied sigh. The smell of brewed coffee wafted teasing her nostrils, flitting her attention onto her desk.

And just about, she turned to a retreating crimson jacket without leaving a word.

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"It would be nice to see the spider lily blooms."

"Oh, it was the time of the month again."

Momo carefully moved her cart forward next to an unsuspecting civilian, waiting patiently for her turn just as the rest of the shoppers in the moderate queue.

It was yet for spider lilies she presumed. They come in bloom late in September, a welcome sight to see in fall, but dahlias were spectacular too, and the lavender fields. It'll be one tap away and she'd be on her way to Hokkaido, but--.