moving up

Chapter 22

Momo's promotion is announced not long after she accepts, and she's congratulated by several of her coworkers. Shoto coordinates the small "party", which is really just some cake and snacks kept in the breakroom that anyone can eat on throughout the day. There isn't much else they can do, since the store hours mean that there isn't really a good time that everyone is off work, other than major holidays.

She's grateful all the same, glad to have her promotion celebrated so much, happy for all her congratulations, and more happy than she should be that Shoto has been so involved with everything. Momo knows that she has to get that out of her system now , especially now that she is entering a leadership position in the store. There's work to be done, and she has to take that seriously, and forget all about her unprofessional crush.

Her first week as a sales floor lead is fairly uneventful, as she learns the ropes on the job and watches a few extra training videos that mostly explain to her things that she's already been told by Shoto or Aizawa or Tenya. Still, she pays close attention every time, learning exactly what is expected of her in her new position.

The change in hours is not hard on her, and going from part time to full time is a nice adjustment. All in all, it is easy for her to throw herself into her work, and focus only on improving the store as best as she can in this position, and build positive relationships with all of her sales floor associates. She doesn't work with Shoto often enough for him to be too much of a distraction, and she is doing everything she can to use burying herself in work as a means of forgetting her hopeless crush. It will be completely behind her in no time, she's sure of it.

At least, she hopes that's the case. If it isn't, and if she's stuck pining for someone that she can't have and shouldn't want, then she might actually have to look for another job and remove herself from the situation. She has to take this seriously, because, though it might not seem like much to most, it's her first promotion, and it is a big deal to her, and something she doesn't want to mess up over something as stupid as liking Shoto more than she should.

More than anything, she hopes that she can put it behind her, but there is a part of her that knows that she doesn't actually want that more than anything. She knows that there's something she wants more than that, but that's precisely the problem.

~X~

The next week, Momo, having finished all of her training, gets to attend her first manager's meeting. She feels awkward being there for the first time, but she's glad that supervisors get to attend in addition to the managers, so that they can know what all is going in the store. For the most part, she sticks close to Kyoka, and tries not to pay too much attention to Shoto.

She still feels weird around him, and, what's more, if she keeps paying attention to him, and watching everything he does, it's not only going to get harder to forget her crush, but will likely make it obvious to the others in the room, and that will only cause more trouble. So she doesn't look at him at all, unless he's speaking, because that's the polite thing to do. Instead, she begins to notice that she's not the only one tense in the room, and realizes that something seems off about Tenya. She doesn't know how he normally is during these meetings, but from how he is in the store, she would have expected him to be more involved. Instead, he seems distance.

When the meeting ends, she points this out to Kyoka. "Is he always like that, or do you think there was something different about him?" she asks.

"No, he was definitely acting weird, but that's kind of been happening more often than not lately," Kyoka replies. "I don't know what's gotten into him, but that's almost becoming normal for him. I thought he was getting better, but I guess not."

"Do you think something happened?"

"Not sure," she says. "But Katsuki seemed out of it too. Usually he doesn't care much, but he always interjects at least once in a meeting. Not today, though. Today, he seemed like he didn't care what was going on at all."

"It's weird for both of them to be feeling bad. Maybe it's the weather? Or something's going around?"

"If so, we better be careful that we don't catch it too. Otherwise, how will the store stay standing?" Kyoka jokes.

Momo smiles at the joke, but then frowns again. "I really hope there's nothing seriously wrong. But I guess there's no use wondering about it, since it's not like we can really ask either of them if there's a problem."

"Speaking of wondering..." Now, Kyoka is giving her a knowing smile. "How does it feel getting so up close with Shoto?"

She can feel herself blushing, getting excited at the mention of his name, despite herself. "We aren't getting up close! It was just a meeting, it's not like we were alone together!"

"Still, the look on your face says different."

"Kyoka, stop!" she protests. "It's nothing like that, not anymore!"

"Not anymore, huh?"

"Think about it," says Momo. "I'm in an important position in the store now, so I really shouldn't...it'll only cause trouble if I keep..."

"Nah, I getcha," Kyoka says, saving her from having to try to explain herself. "Dating someone you work with is always a bad idea, I know. Especially when you're a supervisor or something. But it's funny, when you think about, since me and Eijiro..."

Momo knows the rumors, and she's pretty sure that Kyoka is referring to the fact that she used to date Denki, and that people seem to think Denki is with Eijiro right now, but then, she isn't sure if that's all there is to it. She remembers the times Kyoka's face has softened when talking about Koji, and again wonders if there's something more there, but decides not to ask. As easy as it would be to get back at Kyoka for teasing her about Shoto, she decides against it.

Really, she needs to keep her mind off of workplace romance as much as possible, so she won't pry into anyone else's business while she's trying to think less about Shoto.