They had somehow beaten the odds and won. She couldn't believe it.
As expected, when Namikaze had tried to teleport her flashbangs in to attack Dark Shadow, even though they were disguised, Midoriya had used a powerful kick to create a gust of wind that blew them all away.
They had chaotically split up after that. Namikaze had danced around Midoriya, making him give chase, while Momo had been forced to go head-to-head with Dark Shadow for the first time since the sports festival. This time she held up much better, creating more flashbangs whenever the creature tried to get in close along with her normal weapons.
She had managed to come up with a plan before the match started, and it became time to enact it as soon as Midoriya managed to land a blow on Namikaze.
The teleporter had feigned a deal of pain, making Midoriya hesitate and think that he'd accidentally used more power than intended. In that moment of pause, he'd yelled the signal.
"YAO-MOMO!" Namikaze had roared. " CROSS !"
With that, she'd flipped backwards as Dark Shadow came down and attacked the ground where she'd stood a moment before. She soared gracefully over Namikaze…and created a flamethrower, dropping into his hands. She folded into a diving kick as she plummeted toward the ground, planting her heeled boot solidly in Midoriya's face. Namikaze teleported backward as Dark Shadow came in for support, and blasted the creature with fire. As Dark Shadow shrank in size, cowering, Namikaze teleported in toward Tokoyami in a bob-and-weave motion, punching him solidly and knocking him to the ground.
Midoriya tried to get up and continue the fight, but Momo created a floodlight and blinded him, making him stagger. Namikaze hurriedly captured Tokoyami with the capture tape and then teleported back to them, warping four pieces of debris onto Midoriya's arms and legs to pin him down. Momo leaned over and got some tape around him.
Dark Shadow reappeared from Tokoyami in that moment, but it was too late. Once both teammates had been captured, even briefly, the match was technically over.
Even though the plan had been Momo's idea, it had been Namikaze who'd planted it in her. They're strong enough to continue the fight no matter what we do, he'd said beforehand, but as long as we're fast enough to capture them both at the same time, we can end the match.
In real life, of course, that wouldn't have been a win. But both Midoriya and Tokoyami had accepted it graciously, Midoriya in particular praising them for their strategy.
"You two make such a great pair!" he'd gushed, stars in his eyes.
Namikaze and Momo exchanged a glance, their eyes widening as they realized they were both looking at each other. They quickly averted their gaze and blushed. "Midoriya-san, be more considerate with your words," Namikaze muttered. "You'll give the poor girl nightmares."
There he went with the self-deprecation. Momo sighed, feeling the air relax a little.
As they walked back, having received feedback from Aizawa, she found herself walking with Namikaze.
"That was enjoyable," he commented lightly.
"Yes…I like to see everyone's progress and improvement. It is always a wonder."
"Oh, I wasn't on about that. I was talking about winning. I mean, ahem…" he coughed, having spoken in a very quick, panicked manner. "...I mean, yeah! Competing brings out the best in us, and all that…stuff…" He chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his neck.
She couldn't tell if he was being serious or not. That was the thing with Namikaze. Apparently his erratic behavior was caused by the energy given off by his warping Quirk, as he'd often explained to others in a lightning-fast spiel.
"It's okay to enjoy winning," she reassured him with a smile, deciding that was the safe thing to say.
Namikaze gave her an alarmed glance, as if confused, and then turned away, muttering to himself.
Momo felt an instant strike of despair, watching him walk away. What did I do wrong?
"Hey," Jiro said, reappearing at her side. "What's with that face?"
"I don't know…" Namikaze had rejoined Sero and Tsuyu further ahead, the two people who he spoke with most often. "I suppose I'm just confused by him."
"Who, Namikaze?" Jiro's eye twitched. "He is weird. He's like Aoyama, but more sociable. At least he's not an idiot like Kaminari. He just acts like one sometimes…which is almost worse."
Momo didn't know how to respond to that. Jiro can only think of people in comparison to other people. That's how her mind works. But…
… Haruto Namikaze is different, and I don't understand it.
…
Haruto returned to the dorm late that afternoon. When he got up to his own room on the third floor, he flung the door open, slammed it shut, and immediately sank into his bed, groaning.
Yaoyorozu saw right through me. I'm such a phony.
The class president of 1A and resident rich girl had always been a major source of terror for Haruto. She was just so classy and refined, and he'd never really gotten the courage to establish a rapport with her like he did with Sero, Tsu, Ashido, and Hagakure. Those four were probably his closest friends because they were outgoing and easy to talk to. People who were harder to talk to…he was just too afraid. And now it was late in the year, and friendships had been established…
He knew, of course, that he was part of the problem too. He was terrible at making himself approachable. Everyone just thought he was weird, or frightening…
But it had been absolutely essential for him to make a good impression on Yaoyorozu, because he needed her help.
His phone buzzed again. It was a text from his mother.
Don't forget that we're allowing you to live in those dorms, young man. That is a privilege, not a right.
Trembling slightly, he scrolled up through the earlier messages.
Your grades are subpar. Other than that silly hero class, you've got all Bs. Are you applying yourself at all?
We gave you the right to attend that hero school because you applied yourself in your studies beforehand. But now that you're there, you think you can just be lazy like you used to be?
If this continues, Haruto, we will pull you out. Don't think that we won't.
It was a difficult situation. In order to attend UA, his parents had required him to pass a bunch of other incredibly hard high school entrance exams. Once he'd proven that he could do that, only then did they allow him to go.
His parents despised his Quirk. They thought it had turned him into a lazy bum. They hadn't wanted to send him to a school that would let him use it more freely.
But now that he was here, he was determined to use his Quirk for good. Would they ever understand that? He didn't know. But he certainly wouldn't have a chance to convince them if they pulled him out.
So his only hope was to improve his grades, which had been slipping due to a…variety of factors. And Yaoyorozu was top of the class. He had intended to ask for her help, so he'd tried to match her refinedness and class with as collected of a persona as he could cultivate.
He'd tried to act normal. He'd tried to strategize, say things in a level tone, use big words, even. But then he'd said the stupid thing about winning. He'd slipped up .
And what had Yaoyorozu, the ever-shining ball of gentle prosperity done? She'd smiled at him and pitied him.
Haruto hated being pitied. How could he stoop so low as to rely on the reassurance of others when he had such an amazing Quirk? How could he live up to the expectations placed on him, as a teleporter with a wide variety of abilities, when he kept leaning on the shoulders of other people? That wasn't heroic at all. It was just…weak. And lazy. Just like his parents believed.
He'd needed to establish himself as an equal with her before asking for her help. But he knew that he gave off a smug aura without even meaning to, so it required a careful balance of self-deprecation without making it seem like he was wallowing in self-pity. Because he wasn't, he really wasn't. He didn't want to make anyone think that he thought he was better than them. But he also didn't want to make anyone think that he needed to hear that he was better than them. He'd seen firsthand what excessive praise and ego had done to people. It was present in his very class.
Striking a balance was important, but it seemed like he'd missed the mark with Yaoyorozu. How was he supposed to ask her now?
Haruto groaned, and put his face in his pillow. I'm going to fail and get kicked out of the school and it'll be all over. I'll never get to put my Quirk to use. I'll never get to save anyone.
Someone will die because I wasn't there.
…
Two in the morning.
Momo couldn't sleep. She tossed and turned and twisted, feeling hot and cold all at once. Nothing was working.
Her room was feeling incredibly stuffy. I need some air.
She shrugged into her nightgown and tiptoed out of the room, heading down the quiet, dark hallway.
She knew it was a privileged thing to think, but she really did miss walking through her family mansion at night, especially during the warmer months. The Yaoyorozu ancestral home was massive and spacious and drafty, with many floor-to-ceiling windows that gave you views of the stars.
The Heights Alliance, by contrast, was very closed-in. Uniform. Hastily built. She understood its necessity, but she did miss her mansion sometimes.
If only it were here on the school grounds, where it's safe. It's big enough to house everyone in my class with room to spare. And every day my friends would be able to enjoy the same comforts that I've enjoyed for so long.
Down in the common room, she quickly made a cup of green tea. Studies showed that it helped one sleep.
She suddenly felt a strange presence, and was compelled to turn around.
Beyond the kitchen, through the windows that faced the front steps of the Class A dorm, she could see a boy sitting on the stoop, backlit by the clear night sky. Although he was a silhouette, she knew somehow. Intrinsically. It was Namikaze.
Without another word, she found herself making a second cup of tea. What am I doing? This is probably a mistake. But her hands picked up both cups, and her feet took her toward the door.
The door opened with an unmistakable creak, that he of course heard, and was compelled to turn around. His profile was thrown into relief by the overhead lights on the top of the building, and his purple eyes glinted.
A soft gust of breeze swept over the stoop, causing her nightgown and her hair to stir, flapping a bit in the wind. Momo winced.
"Evening, Yao-momo," he said with his trademark half-smile. "I almost didn't recognize you with your hair down."
"I…made you tea."
"Oh." His eyes flashed downward to the two cups. "Well…thank you."
"Do you mind if I sit?"
"...Not at all. I mean, no. I don't mind. You can do whatever you like." He stumbled over his words, and then sighed, briefly turning away and sliding his hand over his face.
That put Momo at ease, somehow. He's frustrated about something.
She sat down on the stoop next to him, gathering her nightgown around her lap in a way that made her modest. He was in just a white undershirt and shorts, she noticed as she set his cup down between them.
Namikaze picked it up and took a very light sip. He lowered the cup to his chest, holding it in both hands. "So, what brings you out here? Sudden interest in astronomy, perhaps?"
Momo chuckled. "I'm afraid not." She followed his line of sight up to the moon, which was over half full but not quite all the way full. "I was just having trouble sleeping."
"So you got up to make tea, and saw me out on the porch like this. To an outside observer, that would seem like a pretty fateful event."
She felt heat rush to her cheeks. "No wonder you get on so well with Tsu. That's the exact sort of thing she would have said."
"Yeah…I'm all sorts of derivative." He lifted the cup back up as if he would drink some more, but then lowered it again.
"What about you? Did you also have trouble sleeping?"
"No. I wasn't trying to." He glanced at the moon again. "The moon and Jupiter are in conjunction. It was cloudy earlier, so I figured I'd stay up and wait to see." He pointed his finger at a bright, unblinking object below the moon.
"Ah, yes. That's Jupiter. Are you into astronomy, Namikaze?"
"I read a lot of nonfiction stuff. My parents…I mean, my family isn't all too big into…stories, or modern media, or anything like that."
"Ah. I see." There was definitely more to what he just said, but she chose to hang back and be respectful. "Well, I like to keep up to date on all manner of scholarly subjects, but I confess that space is one that I am not interested in as much."
With a blush, she realized that she had gone off and done her uppity thing, having even closed her eyes and put her hand against her chest in a preppy manner. She quickly lowered her hand and closed her mouth, embarrassed, but it didn't even seem like he had noticed.
"Since the Quirk emergence, no one cares much about space anymore," said Namikaze.
"It is…a bit of an obsolete topic."
"You probably think I'm weird for being into it."
"Everyone has their interests."
"It's just cool to think about how things might have been different, if that baby hadn't lit up in China. We could have been among the stars by now, but fate offered us a different sort of evolution."
A moment of silence.
"...I'm sorry, that sounded stupid, didn't it? I mean…"
"No, it's alright!" She waved her hands and gave him a smile. "I get what you're saying. But…you don't have to use such big words around me."
He blushed at that, and looked away from her. Well, that all but confirmed it. "Namikaze-san…have you been trying to put on a persona around me?"
"Erm…well…" He sighed.
"...That thing you said before. About me getting along with Tsu really well. It's because I always know what she's thinking. She's so down to earth. It's easy for anyone to get comfortable with her." Something passed through his eyes. "But I don't always know what you're thinking, Yao-momo. You frighten me a bit. You're…you're really good at everything."
She was shocked. The feelings he'd described were almost exactly how she felt about him.
"It's okay, Namikaze. To tell the truth…I've always admired the way you work in combat. You're so fast and creative with your Quirk, in a way that I aspire to be with mine. We both have very diverse Quirks, but you work with yours much better…and that's always intimidated me. So…you can be yourself around me. I don't mind. I would actually prefer it." She smiled, blinking her eyes at him.
Another gust of wind swept over the porch.
For a moment, he just stared at her, his mouth slightly hung open. His eyebrows went up. Was he surprised?
Then, he relaxed.
"I…I know." He sighed. "I know that I'm hard to approach. And I know I'm better than I give myself credit for. It's just…I see the way some people in our class act…and I'd rather not be like that. I'm perfectly comfortable staying in the background, not making too much of an impression."
"Well…" Momo grinned and took another sip of her tea. "...I think you've somewhat failed at that."
He put his face in his hands and groaned. She chuckled, feeling much better than before. Is this the real Namikaze?
"To tell the truth," he mumbled through his hands, "I was going to ask you for help with my studies. My grades have been slipping recently."
That took her aback. She raised an eyebrow. "Truly? But you always rank fairly well in class, Namikaze."
"I'm making Bs. I'm average. I…I could be doing better."
Once again, there was more behind those words. She wanted to know, but she knew she couldn't pry too much. If he's asking for help, then I shall be of service. That is what I can do.
"I'd be happy to tutor you if that is your desire. It's no problem at all."
He lowered his hands and relaxed, as if the topic had been bothering him a great deal. Was he that worried about my reaction? Surely he knew that I ran a study group at my house for finals. Some of his friends had even been there.
"Thanks, Yao-momo. …You don't mind if I call you that, right? I mean, it's just a bit easier…"
"I don't mind at all," she interrupted, waving her hand. "Pretty much everyone else does anyway."
"Man…" he grumbled. "I feel like I'm just giving you the worst impression of me right now."
"I was feeling the same way earlier about your impression of me."
"Hmm?" He looked genuinely confused about that.
"Sometimes…" She swallowed. She hadn't meant to talk about this, but she'd already given him the hook. "Sometimes I feel like I'm acting too…upper-class around all of you. Jiro has complained about it before. Lightly, of course, but I can sense the resentment under there. And I know it doesn't help that I make good grades and all that. I feel like when people praise me, what they're really doing is ridiculing me in their heads. So I always try to be careful and…" She coughed. "...I don't know. Not seem like such a princess, I guess."
"Oh." He winced. "So, when I praised you before, I just made you uncomfortable?I'm sorr…"
"No, that's not it!" She quickly corrected, maybe raising her voice a little too much. "I believed your words. It was something about the way you said them, I'm not sure. But around anyone new, I'm always careful…I'm worried that they'll think I think I'm better than them…"
Namikaze's eyes widened. She didn't know why, but they did. Once again, she wished she had a key to his brain, to know exactly what he was thinking.
Then, he just grinned easily, taking the tension from the air in one fell swoop. "Well, I guess we can just both admit that our positive feelings about the other are genuine, and stop worrying about it so much?"
Momo paused for a moment, stunned, and then smiled with him, laughing. "I suppose we can do that."
They shared soft laughter for another few seconds, and then stopped. Namikaze turned back toward the stars.
"Say, Namikaze?"
"Hmm?"
"Do you drink tea?"
"...Not at all, no."
"You could have just said something."
"I know. But…I figured if you made it for me, then I may as well give it a try."