Chapter Text
He knew she hated formalities, but knowing this was going to be a moment that would forever change the direction of their lives, he’d made sure they were both dressed for the occasion. He’d called her about a thousand times before the event, just to guarantee she would remember and arrive relatively on time. He had even booked this place months in advance so that he could keep an eye on the weather, food prices, and occupancy of the restaurant.
He was also unconsolably nervous, but that was unavoidable. After all, he knew what was going to come out of this day. He knew what it would mean for them—their future, and naturally that made him so apprehensive, he felt like throwing up. (And admittedly, he already had once or twice the day before.) The only thing keeping him from doing so now, was the awareness that no number of mints would make up for the smell later on—and heavens knew that having fresh breath would be crucial tonight.
However, stepping up to the front doors, he realized she wasn’t there.
Confused, he looked all around—eyes squinting as he traced the edges of the sidewalks where the streetlights glowed, until he spotted something at the pier. The dock adjacent to the restaurant, though void of boats, had a single occupant seated on one of the pilings.
Slender, with snow-tinted skin from the glow of the starlight, he knew precisely who it was that was waiting for him. He could recognize that strawberry-pink hair anywhere.
Not wanting to keep her waiting any longer, he hurried down to the dock, pretending to muster a patronizing expression as he approached. After all, he had to let her know it’d been impolite not to tell him she’d already arrived. He had been waiting around for the past ten minutes.
“There you are,” he sighed in an exaggeratedly bothered tone, “Just how long were you going to have me wait, exactly?”
She turned around, and his heart about melted.
Oh, she was so beautiful.
“Whoopsie, my bad! I left earlier than expected from my hair stylist, so I just decided to hang around for you, and got bored,” she then paused, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear to smile at him, “Why, were you worried about me?”
He admired her for another moment, eyeing the curves in her bright pink dress. The unique asymmetry in her sleeves, as one billowed with the breeze while the other was just a simple strap, the folds and wrinkles that traced her slim waist, and of course that darling sweetheart neckline she was so fond of wearing. (Perhaps because she knew it always made him stare. She loved tempting him like that—not that he minded anymore.)
“You know I always worry,” he said slowly, finally blinking away from her body to look her in the eyes, (and yes, she was indeed smirking) “Aren’t you concerned the wind will mess up your hair?”
“Psh, they used hairspray. I think undoing it is going to be more of a hassle later.”
As he held out his hand to help her to hop off of the pillar, he glanced at the beautiful braids in her hair, recognizing it to have likely been the work of one of their old classmates. Then at the clack of her heels, he slid his hand up to rest on her bare left shoulder, and pulled her into the crook of his arm so that she wouldn’t fall. He leaned a bit closer too, so that he could whisper something secret for her before they were back in public earshot.
“(…Then it sounds like I’ll have to help you with that later tonight.)”
He could feel her shoulder grow warmer beneath his touch as she spun to blink at him, completely astounded.
“You—huh?” she sputtered.
It took all the strength in him to not flinch away in mortification at himself for uttering that, but he was determined not to lose his composure tonight.
“Shall we go?”
She started to walk with him as he did, eventually seeming to regain her own steadiness as they approached the entrance of the restaurant doors.
“D*mn, that was smooth. I think I almost blushed.”
He didn’t give an inch, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Then… you weren’t serious? You don’t want me to come over?” she went on, knowing full-well how he would’ve shrieked at those words any other day.
Instead, he just held open the door, and ushered for her to enter, “I didn’t say that. But I suppose if you’re offering…”
The red-cheeked, pursed-lips expression she gave him from that comment was enough to satisfy him for an entire month. She then let out a huff that basically told him: “you win”, and went inside without another word. Smiling as he let go of the door, he patted his suitcoat pocket one last time to make sure that the bulge was still there.
Sorry, but I’m not going to let you win tonight, he thought cheekily as he stepped through the doorway, I’ve got to do absolutely everything I can to not lose you this time.
He then glanced up at the sky, smiling nostalgically up at the stars as they shimmered above him.
After all… I let you go not once, but twice. This time, he traced the shape of his suitcoat pocket again.
I won’t let you get away, Hatsume.
~ ~ ~
It was Tuesday—only four days left until the school license exams, and it was obvious by the dreary looks on class 1-A’s faces. The majority of the boys in the locker room were dragging their feet as they suited up for hero lessons, aware that they were all about to participate in most likely a very rigorous lecture.
“Even though Aizawa-sensei says that preparation is important, the more I think about the exam, the more nervous I get,” Mineta complained, drooping his head as he waited for the others on the bench.
“Yeah—I mean what’ll we do if any of us fail? That’s probably a big deal, right?” Kaminari grumbled back, clicking the strap of his support item onto his wrist.
“Guys, if you keep talking pessimistically like that, we’re bound to flunk!” Kirishima butted in frustratedly, “The exam’s not for a few more days, so just keep training, and don’t let the pressure get to you—alright?
Kaminari and Mineta grumbled back something inaudible, clearly not well reassured despite Kirishima’s best efforts.
In the meantime, Iida was mulling over the same topics behind them. One arm halfway into the sleeve of his jumpsuit, he pondered about how the exams were only a few days away. It was surreal to think about, that after everything that’d happened these past few months, their entire class—a group of rookie freshman—were about to earn one of the most significant certificates in their entire lives: provisional hero licenses.
Admittedly, Iida had been too distracted lately to notice. So much so, that for once in his life, this test seemed to have genuinely snuck up on him. He began to debate if spending hours in Hatsume’s development studio had really been the greatest usage of his time. If perhaps, he had gotten a bit complacent—having done so well in the past, and was set up to fail this crucial examination.
Still however, while the others continued to whine in the background, he refused to let his anxiousness show on his face. He had to be strong—he was the class rep, after all. If he was nervous, everyone else’s fear would only be magnified.
“Woah there Bakugo, that’s a lot of foot tapping you’re doing…” Sero suddenly commented.
Everyone, including Iida, turned around to see Bakugo looking even more livid than usual as the toe of his boot repetitively clacked against the floor.
“SHUT-UP!” he snapped back through gritted teeth, his arms tense, “IT’S ‘CAUSE YOU ALL WON’T STOP TALKING ABOUT THE EXAMS!”
“Wait—you get nervous dude?”
At that remark, his spiky hair seemed to prick up even higher from outrage, “I’M NOT NERVOUS!”
He didn’t say anything else as he stubbornly turned away though, and his leg continued to bob—albeit a bit quieter, now that someone had acknowledged him.
The sight made Iida swallow harshly as he turned away.
Even Bakugo’s nervous…
He tried not to think about it as he closed his locker and exited behind his classmates, but Bakugo’s demeanor seemed to have rattled him more than expected. He felt increasingly unsure about his own time management—about Hatsume, and about his ultimate moves… every concern of his swirled around in his head like it were alive. He could feel the pressure mounting as he came closer to the doorway. He could feel it crushing down on him with each step now, and felt the corners of his mind become hazy.
I will pass, right?
“Iida, You should loosen up a little.”
Iida suddenly blinked, jerking his head in the direction of whoever had addressed him, “P-pardon?”
A glance made him realize it was Todoroki.
“You look nervous.” he shrugged, “I just felt like saying something, since it seemed to me like you were barely holding it together.”
At that, Iida’s shoulders sagged. Apparently he hadn’t been hiding it as well as he’d thought. “Oh. That’s what you meant… I didn’t realize you noticed.”
“It’ll be alright,” he continued, turning towards the doorway, “Just do what you’re good at. I’m certain you’ll pass, as long as you keep your head clear.”
Iida gave somewhat of a stiff half-smile at that, “Thank you, Todoroki. I’ll remember that.” and then the group of students proceeded out of the locker rooms to enter the shuttle bus for Ground Beta.
To no one’s surprise, when they all arrived on-site for training, Aizawa was scowling as usual at them, while All Might stood awkwardly beside him—looking like he might blow over at the slightest gust of wind. Apparently they weren’t the only ones apprehensive about the upcoming exam.
“You all look like you’re in line for the slaughterhouse,” Aizawa grunted acidly as they formed a semi-circle around him. All Might reacted with a shocked double-take at his icy comment.
“W-well, exams are this week…” Midoriya chuckled back, hoping that answering in a light tone might lift the mood. Unfortunately it didn’t have the effect he wanted though, because everyone just seemed to shrink back even smaller at him stating the obvious.
“And? You’ll put in just as much effort then, as you have been every day here at UA,” he answered back, “There’s no excuse for any of you to fail. I’m going to keep saying that until Friday. When you come back with your provisional licenses, life will be back to business as usual, so don’t go believing that the credits will roll when testing is over. Do you understand what I’m getting at?”
They all simultaneously grunted, fundamentally understanding his point.
Letting out a bothered sigh, Aizawa scanned everyone’s faces one last time before diving into his lesson plans. “With all that said, we have a different layout for today’s hero class.”
Everyone grimaced, remembering without fondness of the events from their past week.
“Not that different.” Aizawa corrected, his shoulders slouching slightly in disappointment, “We’re doing first aid drills. It’s been at least a month since we’ve had a proper review on the subject matter, and the recent mishaps have influenced me to schedule this lesson sooner than originally planned. Stop looking at me like that.”
A collective sigh of relief escaped each of the students.
“Finally, a normal class…” someone sighed
With the suspense now effectively drained, everyone seemed to be feeling a bit better. Admittedly, even Iida felt his heartrate ease. The last lesson he’d had the joy of participating in, after all, was the hide and seek disaster—where he had been brutally knocked senseless by the most savage student in the class. He still couldn’t remember half of that afternoon whenever he tried to think back.
Even though he felt slightly better though, he had his usual doubts and questions still about the different lesson plans. So of course, he raised his hand, and Aizawa glanced over at him and nodded for him to speak.
“Yes, Iida?”
“Sensei, I mean no offense by asking this,” he led carefully, a tone of uncertainty in his voice, “but shouldn’t we be continuing to refine our quirks instead? I understand the urgent switch, given what’s happened as of late, but our exams are almost upon us, and we need to train.”
A few ripples of agreement echoed through the students, but Aizawa’s expression remained the same.
“A fair question. The majority of the testing will involve a direct examination of your offensive capabilities. However, it is critical to keep in mind that there are multiple traits that make up a hero. Strength is immensely important, but in some cases, also optional. The common trait among all heroes, is the desire to save lives. As such, there’s a good chance you will also be evaluated for your life-saving skills—including, but not limited to, expertise in first-aid.”
“Ah… that’s true.”
“I said before that it’s been a while, so if anything, now is the best time to review this.” Aizawa finished, cramming his hands into the pockets of his jumpsuit, “Any last questions before I begin the debriefing?”
Silence answered him back, so he jerked his head and turned to head for the grounds, “Follow me. I will take you to where today’s exercise is supposed to be.”
It took about five minutes for Iida to understand the gist of the lesson. The class had been split up into two uneven groups: the injured civilians, and the heroes. All seven of the participants who were acting as the “injured”, were scattered around Ground Beta in different areas, and each had one goal for the heroes to accomplish. The remaining thirteen students were divided into pairs of (mostly) two, and had to accomplish the tasks within the allotted rotation times.
For a lesson taught by Aizawa, it was surprisingly candid and concise. Iida couldn’t imagine anyone having much difficulty carrying out the required tasks.
“HEEELP! SOMEONE, PLEASE!”
Iida and Jiro, who’d been paired up as heroes, looked around confusedly at the sound of someone screaming.
“Someone’s screaming? But…” Jiro picked up the laminated slip of paper that’d been left on the ground at this particular rotation site, “This is the station we’re supposed to practice chest compressions. Where’s the person? Or—the practice mannequin, come to think of it?”
“Either way, we should give aid to whoever called out to us,” Iida said, a tone of serious urgency in his voice, “Let’s go!”
“Okay, sure… I just hope this isn’t someone else’s rotation we’re butting into.”
However, as the two of them neared the crevice in the ground that’d produced the scream, they were both somewhat underwhelmed to find Kaminari standing on the bottom looking rather pathetic.
“Aaah, thank goodness!” he practically sobbed the moment he saw them at the top, “Guys, please help me! I tripped and fell down here on accident…”
“Are you serious!?” Jiro scolded back irately, “Gods you’re hopeless. This wasn’t even the activity!”
“I said it was an accident okay!? I was carrying the CPR dummy, and I tripped and dropped it, and then I fell inside trying to find a way to get it back!”
Jiro scowled at him, “The hole isn’t even that deep, dude. You can’t scale a one-meter wall?”
“THERE’S NO FOOTHOLDS!”
“Ugh…” she gave Iida an exasperated grimace, “I guess we have two tasks on this one.”
“I… see.”
Other than that unusual occurrence, the other rotations were relatively basic. Guiding a lost child to a safety checkpoint, wrapping a broken finger, cleaning a fake wound… wrapping a broken leg was troublesome, though; but not because Iida had forgotten how to do it. Rather, it was because of the twisted irony involved in the activity itself.
“Hey.”
Iida and Jiro looked up to see Todoroki sitting on the ground with his leg out.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Iida blurted before he could stop himself, which made Jiro choke on a laugh.
“Yeah… I couldn’t believe it either, to be honest,” Todoroki shrugged, “Anyway, uh… do you want me to act like I’m in pain, or not? Because for some reason, I don’t really feel like it.”
“I can’t imagine why…”
Rotation after rotation, the class ticked by until Iida and Jiro arrived at their final station of the period. Ashido was lying down on her stomach as they approached, but perked up the moment she made eye-contact with her friend Jiro.
“Heeey guys!” she greeted, looking a little too cheerful for someone supposedly unable to walk, “It’s the last station before lunch! Hurry up!”
Just as they’d done the past six times, Iida and Jiro reached for the instruction card, and carefully read the directions aloud.
“…Working as a team, carry the injured patient to the safety checkpoint. Hint: be sure to practice these two techniques.”
Two separate carrying methods were displayed with simple diagrams.
“Right, so we’ve gotta carry you, huh?” Jiro reiterated, looking down at Ashido with slight reluctance.
“Yup!” she answered back cheerfully.
“…Don’t you think you’re a bit too enthusiastic-sounding, Mina? You’re supposed to be injured.”
“Oh—I-I mean, ooooow, help me…”
Jiro grimaced at her.
As she continued to moan fakely on the floor, Iida glanced through the instructions once by himself to make certain he had them memorized, before nodding.
“Alright, let’s take care of this,” he nodded briskly, “We’ll use the first carrying method. Jiro, you take this side…”
With Iida’s careful instruction, the two of them managed to shift Ashido up into a sitting position with their arms saddled in the crooks of her knees. Then, without any other adjustments or delays, the group of three set off for the checkpoint at a spry pace.
They walked briskly for a while—several minutes, in fact, without any of them saying so much as a single word. There wasn’t much to talk about between them, after all—Iida wasn’t very well acquainted with either Jiro or Ashido. However, as someone who couldn’t stand awkward silence, Ashido eventually cleared her throat and attempted to start a conversation.
“Sooo have you all been enjoying this? Because personally, I was bored,” Ashido began.
“By the look of it, the civilians had the short end of the stick,” Iida commented back, “You were forced to sit around and wait for people the entire time, unfortunately.”
“Yeah, not gonna lie, I wish I had the harder job this time,” she grumbled, “At least the heroes got to go around doing stuff.”
“Maybe you’ll get the chance after lunch?” Jiro suggested, “We’ve got hero lessons twice today, so it’s possible.”
“Eeeh, I’ll pass. I’m not so disappointed that I’d ask to do this exercise twice.”
“Oh. Gotcha.”
And just like that, they were quiet again. Though the longer this second stretch of silence continued, the more it frustrated Ashido.
“Hmmmmm,” she mulled for a second before coming up with something else to ask, “Say, Iida. Has there been anything this class that you’ve struggled with?”
“Me?” he paused, then shook his head, “It’s all familiar practices. I think Aizawa just wanted us to review the fundamentals, so naturally I didn’t find anything too difficult…”
“I mean, Kaminari fell into a hole like an idiot and we had to fish him out,” Jiro reminded, “There was that.”
“That was more of an inconvenience than something we particularly struggled with,” Iida corrected, shrugging slightly.
“Lol, Kaminari fell into a hole?” Ashido grinned back at them, “Ha! I am so telling everyone~” she then paused to imagine the scene for a second or two, “Was it a deep hole? It must’ve been a little difficult fishing him out. After all, that was basically an unscripted side-quest. No instructions came with it.”
“It was only about a meter deep. He could’ve probably climbed out on his own if he’d been stuck down there long enough,” Iida replied simply.
“Yeah, and Iida handled it pretty well. He knew exactly what to do, so it just killed a few minutes of our time, is all.”
At that, Ashido was mildly surprised, “Wow! I guess there’s a reason you’re the class rep, huh Iida? I mean, by the sound of it, saving Kaminari wasn’t hard, but the fact that you knew the correct procedures even without an instruction card is kinda cool.”
They both noticed his mouth purse at the compliment, as if he were trying (and failing) to hide his pride, “I-it’s all just a matter of memorizing the material. It really wasn’t that much of an accomplishment, but thank you Ashido.”
“Naw, there’s more than just knowledge, I’d say,” Jiro cut in suddenly, “You have a lot of natural talent, Iida. I don’t think people tell you that enough. And not to mention experience, to top it off. You deserve to feel a little proud.”
At that, he turned to give her a mixed expression. He mostly wanted to correct her for calling him talented, but at the mentioning of him also having experience, a flicker of something melancholic crossed through his eyes. Jiro wasn’t watching closely enough to recognize it, but the way he closed his mouth in silence afterwards made her wonder if she’d said something wrong.
“Heeey, can I ask something?” Ashido suddenly interrupted, her voice a little whinier than earlier, “My knees hurt… I wanna sit down for a bit.”
Jiro shot her a bothered expression, “Huh? But Mina, you were the one telling us to hurry up. Now you’re complaining?”
“I’ve been doing this all period, give me a break! I can only sit in this uncomfortable pose for so long before it starts putting pressure on me…”
“Okay, okay—fine…” Jiro stopped jogging, which forced Iida to slow down too. She then sent him an apologetic glance as she started to loosen her hold on Ashido. “Instead of taking a break, why don’t we just switch up your position? Iida, would it bother you if you—well… carried her on your own the rest of the way?”
He glanced at Ashido’s worn out expression, and gave Jiro a mellow nod, “It’s not a bother, I can handle it. You’ve done your share Jiro, don’t worry.”
“Thanks,” she sighed back, “and… sorry, I guess.”
With that, Iida knelt down so that he could shift Ashido properly onto his back. She took a moment to situate herself, allowing Iida to support her thighs as he hoisted her up.
“Alright, let’s go,” he said, nodding to Jiro, and they both proceeded onward the remainder of the distance.
By this point, Ashido gave up speaking with Iida—since he was too focused on the task to bother conversing. She talked to Jiro instead, and Iida half-listened, letting his mind wander someplace distant.
“… And not to mention experience, to top it off.”
Experience with what?
Without thinking about it too hard, Jiro had clearly spoken in general terms. Everyone had seen him carrying Todoroki in the cavalry battle, and he’d had several other in-class opportunities where he’d carried others as well. Not to mention, they knew he’d fought Stain, and had been present in rescuing Bakugo, so in terms of “general experience”, he was well-rounded for a fifteen year-old.
But for some reason, he hadn’t liked it when she’d said that out loud.
When he thought about how he’d carried Hatsume out of that burning building, he felt sour. Experience? He had not rescued her for mere experience. He had rescued her because she would’ve died, otherwise. He would never downplay that incident as an opportunity to practice a medical carry, nor would he choose to find a “silver lining”—despite how hard Hatsume insisted him to. No matter what, Iida refused to move on completely—to forget what’d happened. Instead, he would take those memories with him like the others he’d collected.
Hard moments like those are what make a hero, he told himself, I won’t ever make light of fighting Stain, or rescuing Bakugo, or carrying Hatsume… I’ll let these moments shape who I become. That way, I can be the best hero I can be—one that can truly protect people.
“Iida, you’re squishing me a bit…”
Iida blinked once, realizing he’d been subconsciously squeezing Ashido’s legs, and quickly turned to apologize.
“Sorry, I—”
A flash of pink.
He was there again. Hatsume’s head resting on his back, her pink ponytail drooping. Her arms were weak and charred, her face and legs smeared with soot, one bleeding with puss—
“Uh… Iida?”
He shuddered suddenly, shaking the image away as he looked properly over at Ashido this time. She and Jiro looked very alarmed now—having clearly seen the moment of terror that’d crossed through his eyes. Instantly, Iida regretted it, and loosened his grip on her even more to try and reassure her he was alright.
“Sorry, I… I don’t know what that was,” he tried to chuckle, but it came out more awkward than intended, “I guess I was in a daze for a moment there.”
“O… kay,” Jiro answered back, still clearly worried.
Luckily, the safety checkpoint was only a few yards away, so there wasn’t any time for either of the girls to prod him. Even if they had though, Iida felt like he wouldn’t have much of an explanation for them.
Why did I freeze up like that?
Once there, Ashido slid off of Iida’s back, and gave him an enthusiastic thank-you for his help.
“Thanks for being quick, guys! Now we can go off to lunch!”
Iida’s gaze softened as he nodded to her, “Of course. I’m glad we were able to adjust the ride for your comfort.”
“Yeah…” although for some reason she paused there, which made Iida feel skeptical of her honesty.
“Were you still not comfortable while I was carrying you?” he raised an eyebrow.
“Eh? Ah, well—I mean, my knees felt better, but if I’m being completely honest…” she scratched the back of her head awkwardly, “The plates on your arms kinda dug into my legs. I don’t know if you’re aware, but it’s not very comfy to lean on. I mean, it gets the job done! But you might want to take them off the next time you have to carry someone.”
Iida blinked, having been completely unaware of this, “Really? No one’s ever mentioned that to me before.”
Ashido scratched her head a little speedier when he said this, “Weeell, I mean, take my words with a grain of salt—I don’t know the requirements of your suit or whatever, so you can just forget I said anything if it’s not something you can fix, haha…”
“Oh, absolutely not!” he gave her an air-chop, his glasses glinting slightly, “This is a precious piece of information! I’ll be sure to take it into account the next time I ask for suit adjustments,” he paused, wondering about that for a moment, “In fact, I think I’ll stop by today, actually. Thank you for the feedback, Ashido!”
When he bowed, she immediately waved her hands around—feeling like his sincerity was a bit much, “You don’t have to bow, gosh! You’re welcome I guess—glad I could help?”
Iida seemed satisfied with her response, so once he was standing straight again, the trio made their way over to where the rest of the class was waiting. Everyone was chatting again as a group, all biding their time for the final pair to finish their rotation. Once they saw Iida, Jiro and Ashido, Aizawa nodded once—taking note that everyone had returned.
“That’s all for this lesson,” Aizawa said loudly, immediately turning everyone’s heads at the sound of his voice, “Load onto the shuttle and go to lunch. Fifth period, we will be regrouping at Ground Gamma for a lesson taught by All Might, so leave early to get yourselves changed.”
“Yes Sensei!” they all replied.
Content, Aizawa gave All Might an interesting glance as if to tell him: “you’re up next”, before following the rest of the students onto the shuttle bus.
It wasn’t until P.E. class when Iida had finally procured a moment to swing by the development studio. After the majority of their exercise had been done, he’d asked Aizawa for permission to leave early; and given there weren’t many days left to request costume adjustments, he’d allowed it. As a result, Iida found himself in front of that door once again—sighing deeply as his heart already began to flutter inside of his chest.
Not this feeling again, he thought annoyedly, I keep forgetting that she always makes me feel like this whenever I visit her.
Iida sucked in a sharp breath, and then let it out in a harsh puff to steady his nerves. Hatsume could be annoyingly perceptive after all—he didn’t want her picking up on how he felt—not that he admitted to having feelings for her yet, but he still didn’t want her teasing him over the mere possibility.
So, rather shakily, he pushed open the door to the studio, and strode inside.
It was a lot more chaotic than he’d expected. Support students were scurrying around all over the place, carrying tools and parts of machines back and forth from their workspaces. They looked very busy—almost like a swarm of ants building their colony.
“Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever come by at this hour before.” Iida marveled, unsure how to process this new image of the studio. It’d always been relatively vacant and relaxed whenever he came before.
“Oh hey, it’s glasses kid.”
Iida turned to his right, barely fazed by the nickname after putting up with “four-eyes” and “engine boy” from Bakugo and Hatsume for half the year.
“Good afternoon,” Iida responded, recognizing the speaker and his friend as the brown-haired and dark-haired classmates Hatsume seemed to half-care about, “Is Hatsume around? I have a costume adjustment that I’d like to request, if it isn’t a hassle.”
“Right, we figured you’d want her,” the dark-haired student mumbled, scratching the back of his head, “but… (how do I put this?)”
“Just come with us, we’ll get her for you,” the other one butted in, a rather aggravated look now on his face, “Though it might… take a minute.”
Iida quirked an eyebrow at them, but made no comment as they ushered him away from the front door. They passed several tables on the way, cluttered with arrangements of screws and titanium sheets as the students carried on undisturbed—completely oblivious of Iida’s presence as he wandered past. It intrigued him slightly, since he knew that class was about to end in only ten more minutes. He figured by now, some of them would already be packing their bags.
“Is there some reason everyone is so hard at work today?” Iida eventually asked, turning back to Hatsume’s fellow classmates again.
“Finals.” the brown-haired kid answered, “Because you guys were put on the fast-track to getting hero licenses, the rest of us in the support, general, and business courses were affected too. We’re supposed to earn our creator’s licenses this week—they’re like hero licenses, but for making support items and costumes.”
“Oh, that hadn’t even occurred to me,” Iida mused thoughtfully, “Though come to think of it, if owning support items is generally illegal for ordinary civilians, then it makes sense you’d need a license to manufacture them.”
“Yeah,” the student nodded back, then gestured to the edge of the room, “Anyway, Hatsume’s right over here…”
They all approached the isolated corner of the room, taking notice of Hatsume who was sitting cross-legged in the middle of several clusters of junk and equipment. Unlike everyone else, she wasn’t working on anything at all. Rather, her head was turned away from the room, with a pair of what appeared to be noise-cancelling headphones over her ears.
At the sight of her by herself, Iida couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow, “Is she alright? She’s not typically, erm, like this.”
“This is what I was talking about…” the black-haired student sighed, “Every now and then, she does this weird thing where she just sits alone and doesn’t talk; and for some reason Maijima-sensei is okay with it.”
“Is that so? How unusual.”
The other student let out an impatient huff though, clearly disgruntled by the situation, “Hatsume, take those off! You have a visitor!”
She didn’t reply with even a single word.
“Hatsume!”
Nothing again.
This time, the student approached her with a dreary yet determined look on his face, and laid his palm down on her shoulder.
“Hatsume, someone’s here for you!” he yelled again.
“Shush!” she clipped back, slapping his hand with a sudden swat over her shoulder—not even opening her eyes.
“Gah! She won’t even listen to me!”
Observing as the light-haired student wrestled with a way to get her attention, Iida pointed a finger at the situation and turned to the other support classmate next to him, “What is she doing, exactly?”
“Hatsume gets into these moods where she can’t come up with ideas,” he replied, a rather tired tone in his voice, “I guess it’s like ‘inventor’s block?’ Anyhow, she’ll coop up in her own quiet corner, and don those headphones of hers until she’s hit with inspiration. She did this yesterday, too—I think she’s been feeling apprehensive about the finals…”
“If she spends all day sitting and thinking though, how does she intend to complete her assignment?”
The boy shrugged, “She finds a way. She’s just like that.”
“Huh…”
By now, the light-haired kid was getting desperate. His attempts to get Hatsume’s attention were in vain, since she refused to open her eyes. He didn’t want to shake her too much either, out of personal fear of how she would react back.
“Ugh, I know she got mad last time someone did this, but… here I go.” he grumbled, stretching his shoulder a couple times in preparation.
He then leaned forward and snatched one of the sides of her headphones to yell: “HATSUME! Your boyfriend is here!”
Iida jolted, but not as harshly as Hatsume did. Instantly, her eyes were open wide—bearing into the boy’s face with such malice, Iida nearly worried for his life.
“MY—” she croaked out enragedly, but then spun to see Iida standing idly next to her other classmate; looking slightly pinker in the face than usual. “Oh.”
“Finally, you noticed. You wouldn’t look at me even when I—OW OW OW!”
Mid-sentence, she reached over and pinched him by the earlobe, “Okay, I GET it! Don’t go shouting lies like that! Ugh…”
When she let him go, he immediately massaged his ear, and sulked away—a single, angry tear clouding one of his eyes. He then locked eyes disgruntledly with Iida before giving him a cold: “You’re welcome.” and storming back to his work bench.
“Ah, shoot—there he goes…” his friend sighed, “Sorry, he didn’t mean that.”
Iida waved his hand dismissively, “It’s alright, I understand.”
The black-haired kid winced, “Thanks… I’m gonna try and calm him down. Good luck with your exams or whatever,” and then turned to follow him back to the opposite end of the room.
Her poor classmates…
“So! What’re you doing here? You could’ve alerted me sooner, haha!” Hatsume suddenly piped up behind him, nearly making him jump at the cheerful tone she’d spontaneously adopted.
“You’re not going to apologize to those two?” Iida clipped back, one of his eyebrows twitching. As much as he found her chaotic behavior amusing, he wasn’t going to ignore her brutish retaliation, “They were only summoning you on my behalf.”
She grimaced slightly, almost appearing to feel bad, “Okaaay, maybe the ear-pull was a bit much. But this isn’t the first time I’ve been interrupted today! Right now is a crucial time for me, so I need to come up with something amazing—and I can’t do that without my brainstorming sessions!”
“Fine, fair enough,” Iida sighed, realizing there wasn’t much of a point in pushing the matter. “Just be a little more personable in the future.”
She pouted at him, but didn’t argue the subject any further.
For a moment after that, they sort of paused—an unusual atmosphere seeping over them as they slowly processed that they were within each other’s presence. Fresh feelings from Sunday were still in their minds—the highs and lows of their time at the Iida household, moving boxes and laughing together until the sun began to set. He could visualize her again in that adorable (yet revealing) halter top, and how she would smile at him in a way that seemed to glow with sunshine. How she’d comforted him in a mournful moment, and how he’d worked up the courage to grab her hand on the way to dinner.
It felt like it’d all happened yesterday.
“HATSUME! Your boyfriend is here!” Iida remembered.
He felt a warmth burn from his forehead down to his chin, and quickly cleared his throat to distract himself before he could entertain any ideas in his head.
“S-so, I came here for a costume request,” he finally stuttered out, getting straight to the point, “Though I wasn’t anticipating on your class being so busy. Should I ask Mr. Maijima for this instead?”
Hatsume hummed for a moment to think about it, “Well, that depends on some things, but let me hear what you have to say first. I mean, you’ve got my attention now—might as well give me the deets, right?”
“I suppose…” he scratched his head, “as long as you don’t prioritize this over your school project.”
Then, after clearing his throat again, Iida laid out everything that had happened during hero lessons earlier that day—specifically the portion where Ashido had complained about his armor being uncomfortable to lean on.
“Hmm, that’s interesting, but I can’t say I’m all that surprised,” she said, observing the contents of his costume case as he splayed them across the table for her to see, “There’s a lot of defined edges in the metal of your costume. None of it is fit for comfortably carrying people, but given that this was designed as a combat suit, that was probably the point. If you want to change the design, there’s a chance you’ll have to sacrifice some of your protection…”
Iida’s shoulders slumped at this, “Is there a more suitable solution that doesn’t require removing the plates? Protection is something I don’t want to trade.”
“Weeell…”
She thought long and hard for several seconds, turning over the armor pieces and eyeing the stitches in the fabric of the jumpsuit. She removed one of her gloves at one point to run a finger down one of the armor’s blunt ridges, considering if dulling those edges would be a satisfactory enough solution. The more she contemplated though, the more she realized she would have to downgrade some of the costume’s most iconic details; and that was something she was reluctant to do on multiple fronts.
“So… I could sand some of the hard edges, but the drawback is that your whole suit would have to mimic the change, or it would aesthetically look unbalanced. And, I don’t really think you want that—since these hard edges help to discourage physical attacks. Not to mention, there are legal issues with major costume alterations like that, so I’m not sure this is something I’m even authorized to do…”
Iida cocked his head, “Legal issues? What kind of legal issues?”
Hatsume nodded, “As a support student, my allowance for working on hero costumes is limited. With permission, we can make as many support items we want, but altering the work of a licensed costume developer requires special permission sometimes. One of the big no-no’s is making major aesthetic modifications, which I think this would unfortunately fall under…”
“O-oh… I had no idea there were rules about that,” he grimaced.
“Yeah, it’s a complicated legal mess, and I hate it. But when you think about it, costume designers are like artists, so you can’t just change their brands without permission. That violates some copyright grounds, I think.”
“I guess when you put it in perspective, it makes sense. Although in that case, how did you manage to alter the springs in my boots? Isn’t that some kind of modification as well?”
“That wasn’t aesthetic, it was more of a maintenance update,” Hatsume said, “For that kind of stuff, I just have to turn in a report. Then Maijima-sensei uploads that report to the company who made the outfit, and they include that change in the instruction manual for the next time you request a replacement.”
Iida whistled, “So many details to consider… it’s all so complicated, even for me.”
“Well, with all that hero knowledge you’ve got stuffed in your head, there’s not much room in there for debating artistic copyright laws, is there?” she shrugged, “Don’t pressure yourself. It’s boring stuff, anyway.”
With that over with, Hatsume sighed and leaned her arms behind her head.
“Sooo… I’m a little stuck at the moment. My inventor’s block stretches beyond just making original stuff, as you’re starting to see,” she grimaced, “I’m having trouble thinking of anything right now. I dunno if I can be much help at this rate…”
He cast her a worried, sympathetic glance as she gazed sulkily down at the pieces of his costume. It was rare for her to be like this. Normally, Hatsume was practically bounding off the walls with her ideas, so the fact that she was stuck for once made Iida wonder if something was wrong.
“So, you can’t make any major adjustments…” Iida mused thoughtfully, attempting to keep the silence from feeling too somber, “Is there some sort of support item I could use then? Something that could help me carry people?”
Her face lightened slightly at that proposal, “A support item? Yeah, that’s what I’d have to do. Support attachments aren’t direct alterations to your hero costume, so you’re free to use them in-tandem with it; no reports or permission forms necessary.”
“I see. In that case, what do you have on-hand?”
“Weeell…” she turned swiftly on her heel to dig through her bins of inventions. She tossed item after item over her shoulder, making Iida wince at the clang sounds that followed. Interestingly enough though, no one else seemed to mind the noise—likely too absorbed in their projects to care.
Or they’re just used to her doing stuff like this, he also realized, raising a judgmental eyebrow as she continued ruffling through her stuff.
“YES! Okay!” Iida jumped at her shout, and practically had to dodge her as she zipped past him back to the table containing his costume.
“Did you find something?”
Hatsume didn’t immediately reply—too focused with adjusting the various buckles on the item she’d retrieved. Aware that prodding her was pointless, he waited patiently for her to finish whatever she was doing, until her random humming stopped, and she beamed up at his face.
“Arms up!”
He blinked confusedly, “Huh? O… okay.”
Reluctantly, he began to raise his arms, and she lunged forward before he could even get his wrists above his head. He sputtered nonsensically as she strapped something to his waist—a rush of uneasiness hitting him at her sudden touch. When he realized that she was just fitting him with a support item however, he calmed himself down, and let her finish—though not before his face could burn to a scarlet-red color.
Hurry up… he begged quietly.
She worked for another second or so, pulling something tight that made a chord dig into his gut somewhat. She muttered a hasty apology for it, loosened the strap, and held up a loop attached to the belt.
“Put your arms through these.”
He did as directed, and she buckled the necessary pieces. Then at last, when the item (which appeared to be some kind of harness) was fully equipped, she took a step back, and squinted thoughtfully at him.
Iida was still quite embarrassed, and having her directly scrutinize him like this certainly didn’t help. He wouldn’t look her in the eye, and instead stood awkwardly where he was—feeling like she’d posed him like a doll.
“You’re kind of between sizes, so it doesn’t really fit,” she mulled aloud, “Are you a size 79 or 82? (*between small and medium)”
“80 centimeters. It’s hard finding pants… especially with my engines.” he grumbled back.
“Ha,” she grinned, “Your waist is surprisingly smaller than I expected.”
“Can I please take this off?” he snipped back, trying his hardest to keep the humiliation out of his voice.
“In a second.”
Another long pause stretched as she observed him, before Hatsume finally nodded an “ok”, and he tore off the harness without asking twice. When the strange thing was off of him, he grumpily collected it into his hands, and held it out for her to take.
“What on earth was the point of that?”
“Inspiration!” she grinned, giving him a thumbs-up, “This is a type of rescue harness for strapping unconscious people to your back! I didn’t invent this, but I’ve referenced it for a couple of my past inventions. I think I can use its design to create something helpful for you!”
He raised an eyebrow, “How so?”
“I have no clue!”
Iida’s face flooded with disappointment, but he figured he should’ve expected as much. She’d just barely arrived at a solution, after all—she didn’t even have blueprints sketched out.
“Well, I suppose I’ll have to stop by again later,” he sighed, straightening up a bit as he prepared to leave the studio, “Thank you for offering to help me—don’t let this take priority over your studies, okay?”
“I know, I know,” she grinned, “This is a pretty small concept for me though. I can probably finish it by tomorrow without any problems. Plus…”
Hatsume took a moment to stare at the edge of the room, and twirled a strand of hair distractedly around one of her fingertips.
“This helped me, I think.” she said slowly, “I’ve been stuck for the past day and a half, so putting myself to work might be what it takes for me to get my creative juices running again.”
At this, Iida’s gaze softened, “Right. You’re in a bit of a slump…” he then paused uncertainly, before also asking: “Do you know what caused it? Why you’re unable to come up with ideas, I mean. I’m not all that familiar with your creative process, but this seems like a relatively rare occurrence for you.”
He noticed her finger stop twirling when he asked her this. She glanced at him unsteadily, her eyes seeming to cloud over with an unusual emotion—something almost sad. Hatsume then paused, letting her hand slowly fall to her side so she could form the right words.
“I… couldn’t stop thinking about…”
Iida waited. The noise in the studio seemed to dissolve around them as he focused intently on her face. He could see her lips trembling on her next words—not quite able to push out the next consonant. It was like he’d given her stage fright with nothing more than a simple question.
In the end, she spun around and hung her head—no longer courageous enough to face him.
“Nevermind. It just happens sometimes, haha—don’t worry.”
Iida felt as if he could deflate from the release of tension.
For some reason, she wasn’t going to tell him.
“I see,” he sighed, trying to mask the disappointment in his voice as he collected his costume, “Well, I’ll return tomorrow regardless. Even if you’re not finished with my request, I’m curious to see what you come up with for your exam.”
Hatsume smiled at that—a genuinely sweet one that always caught him off-guard and made his stomach clench, “I’ll see you tomorrow, Iida.”
After swinging his case over his shoulder, Iida turned and left Hatsume behind in the studio. Her eyes followed him for an extra moment as he left, lingering on the doorframe as if a shred of his presence were still there. Then she looked down, a collection of different uncertainties bubbling up inside of her heart.
She hadn’t said it aloud, but she’d thought it plenty. When she’d had her headphones on, she’d done less brainstorming than she would’ve preferred to because a certain someone had kept resurfacing in the front of her mind. All that time she’d spent sitting by herself in the studio, her mind had always come back to him—to Iida Tenya. To his kind, uniquely handsome features, to the gentle words he seemed to save for only her…
And of course, everything that’d occurred on Sunday.
How she’d held him, and how he’d held her back. How he’d taken her hand not once but twice, and how she always seemed to catch him staring at her when he thought she wasn’t looking.
Because of these moments, her feelings were growing, and she knew it. It was getting harder to act like her usual self around him—harder not to pretend he could make her feel excited, harder not to tease him about random things, harder to say goodbye whenever he had to go, harder not to imagine his face as she fell asleep…
I’ve never felt this way before, she thought to herself, knowing she was right, But… what would Iida say if I told him the truth? Would it freak him out?
Bitter, and now more afraid than she’d felt before he’d visited her, Hatsume slumped into her chair, and forced herself to pick up her screwdriver.