Hikari: 『Volume 2 - Omakes』

◆ THE GREAT DIVIDE◇

|Post -Finale - Six years ago|

UA HIGH SCHOOL - CLASS 3A:

◇

Time passed. The storm which troubled them all had come, left traces of its scars not soon to be forgotten, and now slowly ebbed away, giving way to the gentle birdsong Miyuki heard beneath the chorus of greetings she received from her classmates as she went to her desk. Without her crutches, too, and not a single sign of a bandage on her leg. It made her mouth curve into a wider smile.

Katsuki, chin in hand, picked up that inviting scent of apples and without looking up he knew whom it belonged to.

"Good morning, Firecracker," Miyuki said as she passed him. His heart clenched, and his eyes followed her all the way to her seat behind him.

"Morning, Pepperhead," he responded even though he didn't want to. It made things harder than they already were; the fact that he couldn't call the gentle smile she gave him now his anymore, the fact that he couldn't turn around fully without feeling those three words he couldn't tell her anymore lump in his throat...

So he just settled for a gruff, "You're later than usual. Again."

Miyuki finished greeting Izuku and Ochaco then turned back to him. "I know, right? It's so annoying. I was trying to fix it again this morning -" she held up her Mirko trinket, the trinket itself broken off from the ringholder - "But I don't know what I keep doing wrong. Nothing I try seems to be working."

"Ah?" Hanta turned to her, a hand on his chin as he examined the trinket. "This thing? From your mission with Mirko - it's still broken?"

She nodded. Hitoshi looked at it as well and said, "Oh, yeah. I remember hearing about you guys' take down of those terrorists on the news. It was intense," he said.

"Ooh, I saw that one, too. It was so cool how you and Mirko did that 'Solar - Lunar Arc' thing!" Toru gushed, throwing her arms up. "You're so lucky you get to intern with a top ten ranking hero, Miyuki-Chan."

"It's like ever since Hawks rewired Japan's whole ranking system," Ejirou pitched in, "all the pro heroes who'd been in the top 10 and 20 received major morale boosts to work even harder."

"That's because of the decreasing crime rate in the nation, Kirishima-San," Momo told the redhead knowledgeably. "It's not just the overall day-to-day helpings which are being taken into consideration but how efficiently one takes down criminals while doing the least damage to their surroundings. It's notoriously difficult. Especially considering more and more of the villains encountered have access to exponentially advancing support items making their way to the black market."

"You know a lot about this, Yaomomo," Mina said, scratching her cheek.

"It is a rising issue," Ejirou agreed. Activating his hardening, he pounded his fists together. "But nothing we won't be able to handle. Hey, Bakugo, listen to my missions report from -"

"Why?" He asked, not wanting to look away while Hitoshi was leaning closer to Miyuki to examine her broken trinket - the one he'd given her from the supermarket. Honestly he hadn't been expecting it to last as long as it had without so much as a crack or a dent. Miyuki carried that thing with her wherever she went.

"Why don't you just throw it away?" Hitoshi asked. "Clearly it's useless now."

"Oh, well, I! -" Miyuki blushed and cradled the trinket in her palms. She felt Katsuki's gaze on her. "It'd be bad for the environment if I threw it away," she whispered. She bit her lip. "A-Anyway, it's no issue. I'll try and fix it again later -"