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Description
For a refresher, here’s what lead to this!
1.
2.

————
word count; 1,679

For the oddest reason that he couldn’t really explain in words, Touma’s hands felt clammy as he stood on the corner, waiting for Mitsuko to meet him. He couldn’t really blame her for wanting to meet him out here, rather than the doorstep of her home— in fact, he was grateful. He was sure he didn’t want to deal with her parents just as much as she didn’t want to. Briefly, he wondered if they knew she was going out with him today, or if she told them it was Kasumi, or Michiru, you know… girls. Touma shook his head; it didn’t matter, they were just two friends hanging out. They just happened to be a boy and a girl.

This part of the neighborhood was pretty ritzy, and he couldn’t help but feel a little out of place as its residents passed him by, offering scrutinizing and incredulous glances his way. Sometimes, it was like he and Mitsuko were from entirely different planets, considering how different their lives and upbringings were. Maybe that’s why they had butt heads so much at first, though who was to say?

He’d always thought she was so cold and calculating; the perfect Ri-Shen heir. But like Kasumi had told him, it was a front that she had been raised to keep up, and cracks began to surface the longer he’d known her. There were times where she still seemed so irritatingly above it all, but he figured that had more to do with her being so powerful and in training to be a hero than anything else; lots of the top hero class students seemed that way.

Finally, he could see Mitsuko emerge from around the corner and head toward him, and strangely enough, he felt the strongest sensation to run away, but his feet remained planted in place. The first thing he noticed was that her hair was tied up in a high ponytail, though her usual tresses of hair still framed her face in a comfortingly familiar way. Why did she put her hair up today, he wondered? Did it mean something that she would go to a little more effort to do something different with her hair? More importantly… why was he so enthralled with and overthinking something as simple as a hairstyle?

“Yo,” Touma waved nonchalantly as she stopped near him, immediately cursing himself internally. Yo? Really, Touma?

“Hey,” Mitsuko replied; there was an uncomfortably long pause as neither one of them said anything more, but Mitsuko finally continued. “it’s a nice day today.”

“Er, yeah, I suppose it is.”

“Warner than it has been.”

“Yeah.”

She was wearing a green sweater over a blouse despite how warm it was out, but Touma made no mention of it. Her family always insisted that she look her best when she was out, he recalled Kasumi telling Michiru something like that when the ink-quirked girl had remarked how she loved Mitsuko’s style. After another awkward pause, Touma was the one to speak up. “So uh, I was thinking we could go to the park. It was nice when we all went the other day.”

Mitsuko nodded, reserved. “Sure, I would like that.” Without prompting, the both of them started walking in the general direction of the park; Touma stole hidden glances at her every so often, feeling conflicted. Mitsuko was normally a pretty stoic girl, but today she seemed particularly… was tense the right word? Withdrawn? She seemed to have something on her mind, and before he could tell himself that it was none of his business, the words poured out of his mouth like an overflowing faucet.

“Are you alright?” When she peered his way inquisitively, he continued. “I mean, you just seem a little out of it, Lava Lamp.” He couldn’t help but interject the nickname in at the end, perhaps to cushion the seriousness of his concern and make it seem a little more innocent.

Mitsuko seemed to consider his question carefully, before looking straight ahead once more. “It’s nothing,” she insisted, folding her hands in front of her. “I’m just a little tired.”

“Is it your family?”

Her green eyes snapped back to him in thinly veiled shock, and Touma only smiled a little. “I knew it. I see right through you, you know. Can’t hide nothin’ from me anymore.” His playful comment did very little to ease the stiff expression on her girlish features; she silently looked down at her feet as they walked, hands clasped a little tighter now.

“They don’t like you.” Mitsuko admitted, but that wasn’t something that Touma hadn’t already known. There were plenty of reasons why they disliked him, or so he imagined; he wasn’t training to be a hero, and his quirk wasn’t really all that useful, which seemed to be how most of Ri-Shen family assigned worth to people. They probably thought being friends with him would weigh her down, which, now that he thought about, was entirely possible. She already felt like she had to protect him, which was… embarrassing, he guessed.

Still, though; he crossed his arms behind his head nonchalantly, huffing a laugh. “Yeah, your mom definitely gave off that vibe. That’s alright though, being friends with one Ri-Shen is enough for me, I don’t know if I could handle any more uptight know-it-alls.” Thoughtfully, he continued. “Though, your brother seemed pretty cool—“

“My brother is not ‘cool’.” The sudden interjection caused Touma’s dark eyes to dart over to Mitsuko; she was still staring straight ahead, but he could see that the hand closest to him was balled into a fist and that her eyes were slanted dangerously. “He’s a lazy, good for nothing coward and all he does is sleep all day. He’s nothing but selfish, and yet he thinks he can tell me who I should hang out with?”

Just as Touma opened his mouth to apologize for even bringing him up, she continued.

“Did you know he went to U.A. just like us? He dropped out though, because it was hard, because he couldn’t handle the pressure. It was disgraceful for my family, and now I’m the one that has to pick up the pieces. Do you think anyone even asked me if this is what I wanted? If this would make me happy? They don’t care. And did Haruki think of that before he decided to just— leave it all up to me?”

A sudden breeze seemed to cut like a knife through the stunned silence that had settled between the both of them; it was hard to distinguish who was more shocked, him or Mitsuko, but within moments her hand was covering her mouth like she had unveiled some terrible secret. Maybe she had.

“A-Anyway…” she uttered, hand gradually lowering to rest in a fist over her heart. “We’re here.”

“.. Right.”

The cherry blossoms were in full bloom this time of year, but Touma was having a hard time appreciating them; his mind was far away, on what Mitsuko had said. If what she had said was true, and he couldn’t imagine that she would lie about something like that, did that mean that she… didn’t even want to become a hero in the first place? How could that be? The Mitsuko he knew was too stubborn to let herself get pushed into something she didn’t want to do, wasn’t she?

Stealing a glance towards her was a mistake, because she was already looking at him with an expression he couldn’t quite read; both of their faces turned a healthy shade of pink and gazes were averted. Why was this so… awkward?

Ugh… he knew why.

“Hey, would it be okay if we bought some bread?”

“Bread?” Touma questioned, giving a curious tilt of his head. “If you’re hungry we can get some real food, ya know.”

“Not for me, dummy.” There was nothing harsh about the name she’d called him; in fact, she’d said it so softly that you’d be forgiven for thinking that the definition of ‘dummy’ had been changed since you’d last heard. Her hand lifted, a single slender digit pointing towards a small pond. “For the koi.” Mitsuko lead the way over to a stand not too far away from the koi pond in question and asked for three slices of bread.

“I can pay for it,” Touma offered. It wasn’t like she couldn’t afford something as simple as bread, but he guessed he just… wanted to be nice? It wasn’t because this was a date and he felt like he should, that wasn’t it at all! A look of incredulousness overtook Mitsuko’s countenance; one brow furrowed while the other arched upwards. Wordlessly, she paid for the bread— then, she handed him one slice, kept one for herself, and broke the third in half, passing one of the halves to him. With a mischievous glint in his eye, Touma took this opportunity to stuff the half piece in its entirety into his mouth, which was almost more than he could chew. “Uhf ohf…” he struggled, mouth full of bread. “Mifakes haf been mafe!”

Mitsuko’s expression seemed entirely blank for several moments, but finally, the corners of her lips curled upwards ever so slightly and she laughed; it wasn’t a loud laugh, or even a lengthy one. Just a single, breathy chuckle drawn out of her by the sheer absurdity of his actions. “You are so weird.”

A small smile slowly crawled across Touma’s features as he swallowed the bread.

Together, they made their way over to the koi-fish pond, where Mitsuko proceeded to crouch; then, she pinched off a piece of bread and tossed it into the pond. Five or so koi made a beeline for it, a mostly yellow one snatching it up before the others could. Mitsuko smiled, tossing another piece in. Somewhat meticulously, she ensured that each koi fish had eaten an equal amount.

Touma’s arms were raised, crossed behind his head as he watched nonchalantly, wondering if he’d ever seen Mitsuko smile this much since he’d met her.

It suited her.

————

HEY SO this is a really old piece, like, definitely a year or so old. I only just finished the writing for it, so I can finally post it!! I’m sorry it took so long, but I’m finally getting the ball rolling!

REMEMBER, THIS ISN’T A DATE!!!!

Any resemblance to original characters of other works by other creators is completely coincidental. Touma belongs to BluebirdsandCanaries and Mitsuko is mine! The artwork is mine too, so please do not post elsewhere without my permission. Do not trace, reproduce, or steal in any shape or form. If you want something drawn for you, I'm open to commissions, art trades and the like! There really is no reason to steal!

Description
For a refresher, here’s what lead to this!
1.
2.

————
word count; 1,679

For the oddest reason that he couldn’t really explain in words, Touma’s hands felt clammy as he stood on the corner, waiting for Mitsuko to meet him. He couldn’t really blame her for wanting to meet him out here, rather than the doorstep of her home— in fact, he was grateful. He was sure he didn’t want to deal with her parents just as much as she didn’t want to. Briefly, he wondered if they knew she was going out with him today, or if she told them it was Kasumi, or Michiru, you know… girls. Touma shook his head; it didn’t matter, they were just two friends hanging out. They just happened to be a boy and a girl.

This part of the neighborhood was pretty ritzy, and he couldn’t help but feel a little out of place as its residents passed him by, offering scrutinizing and incredulous glances his way. Sometimes, it was like he and Mitsuko were from entirely different planets, considering how different their lives and upbringings were. Maybe that’s why they had butt heads so much at first, though who was to say?

He’d always thought she was so cold and calculating; the perfect Ri-Shen heir. But like Kasumi had told him, it was a front that she had been raised to keep up, and cracks began to surface the longer he’d known her. There were times where she still seemed so irritatingly above it all, but he figured that had more to do with her being so powerful and in training to be a hero than anything else; lots of the top hero class students seemed that way.

Finally, he could see Mitsuko emerge from around the corner and head toward him, and strangely enough, he felt the strongest sensation to run away, but his feet remained planted in place. The first thing he noticed was that her hair was tied up in a high ponytail, though her usual tresses of hair still framed her face in a comfortingly familiar way. Why did she put her hair up today, he wondered? Did it mean something that she would go to a little more effort to do something different with her hair? More importantly… why was he so enthralled with and overthinking something as simple as a hairstyle?

“Yo,” Touma waved nonchalantly as she stopped near him, immediately cursing himself internally. Yo? Really, Touma?

“Hey,” Mitsuko replied; there was an uncomfortably long pause as neither one of them said anything more, but Mitsuko finally continued. “it’s a nice day today.”

“Er, yeah, I suppose it is.”

“Warner than it has been.”

“Yeah.”

She was wearing a green sweater over a blouse despite how warm it was out, but Touma made no mention of it. Her family always insisted that she look her best when she was out, he recalled Kasumi telling Michiru something like that when the ink-quirked girl had remarked how she loved Mitsuko’s style. After another awkward pause, Touma was the one to speak up. “So uh, I was thinking we could go to the park. It was nice when we all went the other day.”

Mitsuko nodded, reserved. “Sure, I would like that.” Without prompting, the both of them started walking in the general direction of the park; Touma stole hidden glances at her every so often, feeling conflicted. Mitsuko was normally a pretty stoic girl, but today she seemed particularly… was tense the right word? Withdrawn? She seemed to have something on her mind, and before he could tell himself that it was none of his business, the words poured out of his mouth like an overflowing faucet.

“Are you alright?” When she peered his way inquisitively, he continued. “I mean, you just seem a little out of it, Lava Lamp.” He couldn’t help but interject the nickname in at the end, perhaps to cushion the seriousness of his concern and make it seem a little more innocent.

Mitsuko seemed to consider his question carefully, before looking straight ahead once more. “It’s nothing,” she insisted, folding her hands in front of her. “I’m just a little tired.”

“Is it your family?”

Her green eyes snapped back to him in thinly veiled shock, and Touma only smiled a little. “I knew it. I see right through you, you know. Can’t hide nothin’ from me anymore.” His playful comment did very little to ease the stiff expression on her girlish features; she silently looked down at her feet as they walked, hands clasped a little tighter now.

“They don’t like you.” Mitsuko admitted, but that wasn’t something that Touma hadn’t already known. There were plenty of reasons why they disliked him, or so he imagined; he wasn’t training to be a hero, and his quirk wasn’t really all that useful, which seemed to be how most of Ri-Shen family assigned worth to people. They probably thought being friends with him would weigh her down, which, now that he thought about, was entirely possible. She already felt like she had to protect him, which was… embarrassing, he guessed.

Still, though; he crossed his arms behind his head nonchalantly, huffing a laugh. “Yeah, your mom definitely gave off that vibe. That’s alright though, being friends with one Ri-Shen is enough for me, I don’t know if I could handle any more uptight know-it-alls.” Thoughtfully, he continued. “Though, your brother seemed pretty cool—“

“My brother is not ‘cool’.” The sudden interjection caused Touma’s dark eyes to dart over to Mitsuko; she was still staring straight ahead, but he could see that the hand closest to him was balled into a fist and that her eyes were slanted dangerously. “He’s a lazy, good for nothing coward and all he does is sleep all day. He’s nothing but selfish, and yet he thinks he can tell me who I should hang out with?”

Just as Touma opened his mouth to apologize for even bringing him up, she continued.

“Did you know he went to U.A. just like us? He dropped out though, because it was hard, because he couldn’t handle the pressure. It was disgraceful for my family, and now I’m the one that has to pick up the pieces. Do you think anyone even asked me if this is what I wanted? If this would make me happy? They don’t care. And did Haruki think of that before he decided to just— leave it all up to me?”

A sudden breeze seemed to cut like a knife through the stunned silence that had settled between the both of them; it was hard to distinguish who was more shocked, him or Mitsuko, but within moments her hand was covering her mouth like she had unveiled some terrible secret. Maybe she had.

“A-Anyway…” she uttered, hand gradually lowering to rest in a fist over her heart. “We’re here.”

“.. Right.”

The cherry blossoms were in full bloom this time of year, but Touma was having a hard time appreciating them; his mind was far away, on what Mitsuko had said. If what she had said was true, and he couldn’t imagine that she would lie about something like that, did that mean that she… didn’t even want to become a hero in the first place? How could that be? The Mitsuko he knew was too stubborn to let herself get pushed into something she didn’t want to do, wasn’t she?

Stealing a glance towards her was a mistake, because she was already looking at him with an expression he couldn’t quite read; both of their faces turned a healthy shade of pink and gazes were averted. Why was this so… awkward?

Ugh… he knew why.

“Hey, would it be okay if we bought some bread?”

“Bread?” Touma questioned, giving a curious tilt of his head. “If you’re hungry we can get some real food, ya know.”

“Not for me, dummy.” There was nothing harsh about the name she’d called him; in fact, she’d said it so softly that you’d be forgiven for thinking that the definition of ‘dummy’ had been changed since you’d last heard. Her hand lifted, a single slender digit pointing towards a small pond. “For the koi.” Mitsuko lead the way over to a stand not too far away from the koi pond in question and asked for three slices of bread.

“I can pay for it,” Touma offered. It wasn’t like she couldn’t afford something as simple as bread, but he guessed he just… wanted to be nice? It wasn’t because this was a date and he felt like he should, that wasn’t it at all! A look of incredulousness overtook Mitsuko’s countenance; one brow furrowed while the other arched upwards. Wordlessly, she paid for the bread— then, she handed him one slice, kept one for herself, and broke the third in half, passing one of the halves to him. With a mischievous glint in his eye, Touma took this opportunity to stuff the half piece in its entirety into his mouth, which was almost more than he could chew. “Uhf ohf…” he struggled, mouth full of bread. “Mifakes haf been mafe!”

Mitsuko’s expression seemed entirely blank for several moments, but finally, the corners of her lips curled upwards ever so slightly and she laughed; it wasn’t a loud laugh, or even a lengthy one. Just a single, breathy chuckle drawn out of her by the sheer absurdity of his actions. “You are so weird.”

A small smile slowly crawled across Touma’s features as he swallowed the bread.

Together, they made their way over to the koi-fish pond, where Mitsuko proceeded to crouch; then, she pinched off a piece of bread and tossed it into the pond. Five or so koi made a beeline for it, a mostly yellow one snatching it up before the others could. Mitsuko smiled, tossing another piece in. Somewhat meticulously, she ensured that each koi fish had eaten an equal amount.

Touma’s arms were raised, crossed behind his head as he watched nonchalantly, wondering if he’d ever seen Mitsuko smile this much since he’d met her.

It suited her.

————

HEY SO this is a really old piece, like, definitely a year or so old. I only just finished the writing for it, so I can finally post it!! I’m sorry it took so long, but I’m finally getting the ball rolling!

REMEMBER, THIS ISN’T A DATE!!!!

Any resemblance to original characters of other works by other creators is completely coincidental. Touma belongs to BluebirdsandCanaries and Mitsuko is mine! The artwork is mine too, so please do not post elsewhere without my permission. Do not trace, reproduce, or steal in any shape or form. If you want something drawn for you, I'm open to commissions, art trades and the like! There really is no reason to steal!