Colors in the Dark

[8] Unbalanced Matches

A/N: The roaring UA Sports Festival continues, each match with an obvious victor. At least Ayami's met someone new to keep her company!

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As the ice was slowly but surely cleared from the stadium, Ayami and Shinsou slowly began to open up. There was no more talk about their pasts, both of which seemed touchy, but they realized they had quite a bit in common.

Neither was especially fond of crowds, though Shinsou wasn't afraid of them like Ayami could be. Both liked the quiet and the peace that came with it, and both of them liked cats. And, as Ayami had come to realize since living on her own, coffee.

The thing that Ayami found the most surprising, and relatable, about Shinsou, was his cold determination to prove himself a hero. Both as people who had quirks that had been looked down on for not being heroic, yet both were on the path to proving those words wrong.

And as reserved and sure of himself in not wanting friends, Shinsou never failed at adding something to the conversation. Even if he just said a few words, he could relay a whole paragraph's worth of meaning as hardly enough for a sentence if he so chose.

They shifted from simple things, like their hobbies and classes, things that began to go deeper. Neither wanted to pry, but they had come to a state of mutual understanding and respect, enough that they could speak their minds. The area around them began to clear as more people walked back to their seats, but Ayami could still see small pieces of the ice wall poking out.

"For someone who doesn't want friends, you're quite good at talking," Ayami told him, finishing the last drops of the tea she had gotten and had been occasionally sipping.

"I've had to be; it's part of my quirk. It's difficult to get someone to answer you if you don't ask the right question at the right time, so dancing around words has become a habit," he replied, gaze sometimes darting to check the melting progress but other than that remaining fixed on Ayami's. He was good at keeping eye contact when he spoke or listened, which almost made the girl nervous.

She hated being stared at.

"Well, I've come to realize myself- if you haven't noticed- as ending up at the wrong place at the wrong time. All the time. And it always leads to some trouble, whether it be with a situation I'm in that I can't get out of, or something simple, like tripping over my words because I'll have remembered something I wanted to say thirty seconds earlier. And making a fool of myself mid-sentence, because I'll have just rambled on about something pretty much unrelated to the topic... case in point," Ayami said, ending by covering her face in her hands. "Fifteen years of working with people and I still can't talk normally."

Shinsou was quiet for a moment, carefully formulating his response. He tended to do that a lot, she had noticed. "If it's too personal, you don't have to respond, but from what you've said already, I can't help but think life as an orphan involves more 'sit still, look pretty, don't act out of line' than anything. So, you likely didn't have the proper social environment that would have helped you develop the more complex social skills."

"Ouch, that hit too close to home," Gaia noted. "He's good at this."

"You're... not wrong about that. When living like that for long enough, you learn to just be silent and take whatever comes to you, even if it's painful and you don't want to. Even if it feels wrong, watching yourself and others being monetarily exploited for the benefit of bad people becomes a habit. It's how you survive," she told him quietly. Ayami felt exposed after talking about something so personal, suddenly looking around to realize the ice was just about gone. "A-anyway, it looks like the next round will be starting soon, so we should head back to our seats."