MHA: Mizumi's Story

Reunion

1st Person
When I see my brother come through the doors of my dorm building, I launch myself at him immediately. Hawks had let me know that Sosuke was allowed to be in my life, and that he would be allowed to visit me frequently. I will never get tired of being affectionate with my brother, and he doesn't seem to mind it.
"I brought you something," Sosuke says as I finally let go of him.
"Hm?"
He takes a familiar-looking violin case covered in colorful stickers off of his back and hands it to me. "For you, Princess."
"Artemis? How did you get this?" My violin was confiscated as evidence when I was captured, and I haven't seen it since. My eyes light up as I open the case to find that my precious baby is still in good condition.
"The Commision works in mysterious ways," my brother grins. "Why don't you show off a little and play something for your friends?"
I shake my head. "Dude, it's been like two years. I need a couple of days to practice and get back into the swing of it."
My friends look disappointed as I put the violin away, and I feel kind of bad about it. I would love to play for them, so I promise them that I will. "I'm a little rusty. Just give me a few days and I promise I'll put on a nice performance for you."
They seem content with that and leave me to my practicing.

After a couple of days, I knock on Kyoka's door. I perform for her first, since she is the musician of the class. I want her approval before I show off to everyone else. She enjoys the song I play for her and she follows me downstairs as I gather our classmates after dinner, so I can show off my skills.
I have the time of my life performing from my friends and I make it a regular thing to play for them whenever they ask me to.

Now that my brother is a part of my life, things are a lot more lively around here. He drops by almost every day just to see me. When he's around, he gets along pretty well with my classmates. There's almost constant laughter as long as my brother is here.
The only problem is that my brother tells a lot of dirty jokes and uses the kind of language that would make a pirate rethink his life choices.
"Why don't you talk like that?" Hitoshi asks one day when I tell him about the salty language my brother uses around my friends.
"I used to."
"What happened?"
"The Commission knows how to make you kick a bad habit real fast."

My brother's obvious favorite of my friends? Kaminari. Those two are so much alike that it's almost creepy. No wonder I get along so well with the electric boy, he's basically a younger version of my brother.
I've kept Hitoshi away from him, though. My brother has always been super protective of me and I don't want him threatening my boyfriend. But their meeting was inevitable. Hitoshi comes over for our date night, and Sosuke is waiting for him. My brother sends me out of the room so he can talk to my boyfriend alone.
"You better not start threatening him," I say as I walk out of the room. "Be nice, please."
I take the opportunity to go get a snack from the kitchen. After a few minutes, I can't take it anymore. I peek my head around the corner, trying to eavesdrop on their conversation while I sip from my water bottle.
"So what exactly are your intentions with my baby sister?" Sosuke asks. Ugh, so typical.
Hitoshi stays calm and handles the situation well. "I want to make her happy. She told me everything that she's been through, and the least I can do is be there for her when she needs me."
My brother seems to calm down a little bit but is still on guard. "And you haven't been 'Plus Ultra' with her yet?"
I almost spit out my water. My brother is being way too invasive. My relationship is none of his business, and he really shouldn't be asking about these things. My boyfriend's next words turn my face warm.
"No. I have respect for her and her boundaries. If she decides that she wants to take things a little further, I will do everything I can to make it a nice experience for her."
"You seem like a good dude. But how do I know you're not just gonna break her heart?"
"Because I'm in love with her."

"Because I'm in love with her."
Hitoshi's words run through my head over and over again. Is that how he really feels about me? He hasn't said anything like that to my face. We've only been dating for a couple of months, so it's way too soon for that kind of thing.
Right?
I feel my face overheating, so I force myself to leave them alone so they can finish their conversation without me. I don't think I want to know how my brother responded to such a confession. I go back into the kitchen and splash some water on my face as I try to cool myself down.
"What's up? What's got you blushing so much?" I jump at the sound of Mina's voice. Every girl in my class has gathered behind me, knowing my brother is interrogating my boyfriend.
"Nothing! Don't worry about it!"
"You know we're not gonna give up until we know." Kyoka grins.
"Come on, just tell us!" Toru giggles.
"It's not nice to force her to talk about it if she doesn't want to," Tsu ribbits. Ochako and Momo nod in agreement.
"My brother is about to kill my boyfriend," I say when I cool myself off a little.
"Why? What happened?" Mina asks, leaning on the counter.
My face turns warm again immediately after I had cooled off. "I just heard Toshi say he's in love with me..." The girls light up, squealing and giggling as they hug me.
"Hang on, I'm not sure how I feel about this," I admit. "We have only been together for a couple months. You don't think it's too soon for that?"
"Of course not." Momo speaks up.
"We're so happy for you!" Ochako squeals.
"You're very good for each other." Tsu says.
"So when are you going to tell him you love him too?" Toru demands to know.
"Don't force it, just take your time and tell him when you're ready." Kyoka is the most chill one about this.
"Yeah, I guess you're right. I mean, I do really like him. I just need some time to think about it."
"Hey Kitty, are you ready to go?" Hitoshi says from behind me. Was he listening into our conversation? I really hope he didn't hear that. When I turn around to look at him, he has the same neutral expression on his face that he always does. If he did hear what I just said, it doesn't show on his face.

The girls scatter to leave us alone, and I suddenly feel really nervous. My date with Hitoshi is a little uncomfortable, and I squirm a little when he puts his arm around me as we watch a movie in his room. I struggle to get comfortable around him as I try to work through my feelings. I know I really like him, but I'm not sure if I'm in love just yet. Hitoshi has come to my rescue when I was emotionally distressed on multiple occasions, and I always feel safe when he's around. He's the best boyfriend a girl could ask for, so how has it taken me this long to realize how I feel?
I think I love this boy.
"Kitty? Are you okay? You've been quiet and staring off into space for a few minutes." Hitoshi looks a little worried as he gently brings me back to reality.
"Yeah, just thinking about some things. Everything's fine, though."
"Thinking about what?"
I shake my head. "Don't worry about it. I'll tell you when I'm ready."
"Okay..." Hitoshi changes the subject and we move on.
Without thinking, I reach for his hand. He seems startled at my touch for a second, then he smiles as he locks our fingers together. My hand fits so perfectly in his, it's almost like it belongs there. I smile to myself and let myself relax in his embrace as we continue to cuddle and watch the movie.

When I get home after our date, I go straight to Mina's room. I really need some advice.
"Mina? Can I talk to you for a second?" I ask as I knock on her door.
She opens the door almost immediately and I see Toru sitting in the room too. Perfect. These two are practically love experts. "Yeah, what's up?"
She invites me into her room and I sit down with her and Toru. "I think I'm in love with Hitoshi. But I don't know how to tell him. What do you think I should do?"
They both jump up and practically knock me over as they hug me, squealing excitedly. It's really hard to keep up with what they're saying because they both start talking at once. They both have a lot of ideas on how I should tell my boyfriend how I feel, but the one we ultimately decide on involves waiting until we have a quiet moment alone while on a particularly romantic date. They give me the idea to cook dinner for him and dress up really nice to make it a memorable moment. But since we both eat dinner with our respective classmates, it might be a little difficult to have a dinner date at home alone. With so many other people around, it's gonna be almost impossible to have the dorm building to ourselves.
But then something comes to my attention. If Hitoshi loves me, then why didn't he say it? He had no problem telling my brother how he feels about me, so why couldn't he say it to my face? Does he think it's too soon? What could possibly be holding him back? Maybe my super romantic plan isn't such a good idea after all...