The next day, Haru went to his own train station at around 2. The town and station were bustling. Peeking into windows might reward you with a glimpse of a TV playing the second-year Sports Festival. It was all over people's phones as well.
"Oh hey, isn't that the guy who won?"
"Haru Namikaze! Hey!"
"Nah, it can't be hi… oh wait I think it actually is."
People stopped him and spoke to him all the way through. While on the train, a little boy asked for his autograph. Several adults congratulated him and wished him good luck. Haru responded to all of them as best he could. It was surreal.
"Hey, Namikaze-san," a teenage girl who may have gone to his middle school whispered to him, "are you and that Ashido girl really an item?"
"Is that the rumour?" he asked, keeping his face neutral.
She nodded and held up her phone. "It's all over the tabloids."
Haru scratched his nose. "Well, just between you and me… I'm going to meet up with her right now."
The girl's eyes widened. "No way!"
"Yeah, and I'm only comfortable saying that because she thrives on attention."
"Well, I won't say anything, don't worry." The girl crossed her heart. "You were always a nice guy at Shinobu, after all."
"You went to Shinobu?"
She pouted. "Mio Nishizono. You don't remember me?"
Haru winced. "I had a suspicion; you seemed familiar. I'm sorry."
"It's okay, we only ever had one class together. But dude, I didn't even know your Quirk! You could have been the most popular guy in our year if that had been common knowledge! Did anyone know?"
"A couple of the guys did, yeah."
"Hmm. I mean, I knew Toru-chan was aiming for UA, but now we've got two people there, and one of them won the festival! Can any other middle school claim as much?"
"Possibly," said Haru, thinking of Bakugo and Midoriya. I really do wonder what school they went to.
He bid goodbye to Nishizono as he disembarked and changed trains at a midway station. He arrived at Mina's platform at 2:25 and sent her a quick message.
Haru: I'm here.
Mina appeared shortly thereafter, in nearly skin-tight dark pants and a loose, billowing pink shirt tucked into them. The shirt read PINKY in English letters. Across her front on a diagonal was the strap of a brown purse, which went right between her boobs.
The fabled seatbelt effect. Haru gave her a brief innocuous once-over that he hoped wouldn't land him in any trouble, and then said, "you look nice."
Light seemed to erupt in Mina's eyes, and she grinned. "Thank you!" Aforementioned eyes looked him up and down, and for a moment they seemed… hungry. Haru's eye twitched nervously.
He was wearing a green sweater that he had rolled up to his forearms, normal blue jeans, and brown work boots. "You don't look half-bad yourself," Mina said in a lower voice, winking at him. "Come on." She whirled on the balls of her feet. "Let's go."
Before they'd even gotten off the platform, several people stared at them from a distance. Mina's unique looks drew anyone's eye, and of course… now they were famous.
"Hey, isn't that…"
"I think it is!"
"The media's gonna have a grand old time if someone snaps a photo of us," Haru muttered, following behind Mina.
The girl turned for a moment, hesitating, and then closed one eye, sticking her tongue out. "Let them," she said, and then grabbed his hand, dragging him along.
"Hey, whoa!"
They went out onto the street, and Mina pulled him up to her so they were walking side-by-side. She did not let go of his hand.
"So, what's the plan?" Haru asked her, his eyes scanning the shop windows they were passing.
"I haven't eaten, so we're gonna grab a late lunch from one of the stands in the park nearby. Then we're gonna hang out in the park. From there… you can decide something. How does that sound?" she leaned over a bit to look into his eyes, her own eyes twinkling.
Haru couldn't help but smile; she was so cute. "Sounds great. But… what was it you wanted to talk about, though?"
For a moment, Mina's smile faded. Her face seemed to recompose itself… and then she nodded, almost like a twitch. "We'll talk at the park, 'kay? While we eat. It kinda… has something to do with what just happened, actually."
Hmm? Does she mean people recognising us?
They arrived at the park, which was pretty large and well covered with trees. Walking paths formed intersecting webs, and in between them were large green spaces. Some were exposed to the sun, some weren't. Haru spotted a gazebo, and elsewhere, a fountain. Along one path there was a sandwich stand.
"There?" he asked Mina.
"Mmhmm," she nodded. "Finally. I'm starrrrving." Her stomach growled.
"Your insides have excellent dramatic timing."
"They're as dramatic as the rest of me!" she winked again.
When they ordered their sandwiches, Haru half expected the guy running the stall to recognize them, and then they would run into an awkward "Oh are you two boyfriend and girlfriend?" situation. But the guy didn't appear to give a shit. Not everyone watches the Sports Festival, thank god.
They sat down with their paper-wrapped food beneath a couple of trees, on a section of dry grass. There was a soft breeze blowing, ruffling Mina's pink curls. Haru's own hair was a little longer than he was used to, and he could see locks of dark grey dancing across the surface of his eyes.
"You should have brought a picnic blanket," he commented.
"Maybe you should have brought one. You're the man, after all. And you're letting me sit on this dirty grass!"
"I had no idea we were coming to the park."
"Hehe, I thought I might get you with that one." Her smile faded. "There… there I go again…"
"Hmm?" Haru leaned forward, noticing how melancholy she looked all of a sudden. "Whatever's going on, I'd like to know. Maybe I can help." I want to be able to help you for once, instead of the other way around.
She took a deep breath. "Haru… what I wanted to say was… I'm sorry."
"Sorry for what?" He didn't understand.
"For embarrassing you in front of all those people." Her eyes were perfectly sincere. "I… that was wrong of me."
Haru raised an eyebrow. "That's what you're concerned about? I thought we established that you were just trying to do whatever you could to win, like we promised. And in psyching me out, the crowd thing was just an unfortunate side effect. That wasn't really in your control. I've long gotten over it, not gonna lie. And if other people in the class think worse of you, then I'm sure we can clear that up…"
"No, you don't get it," she interrupted him. "I… I didn't just do it to try to win, I think."
Haru suddenly felt uncomfortable. Was she actually trying to make fun of me? His face turned red. Have I been made a fool of this whole time, getting led on by some girl?
"Then…" he swallowed, trying to keep his emotions in check. "… why?"
"You see, umm…" she coughed. "I, uh…" her face was turning lilac. "I think when there's a guy that I, umm…"
Haru blinked. "You don't have to say it if you don't want to." I don't know if I want to hear it. "I accept your apology regardless, Mina."
She closed her eyes and sighed, mumbling something incomprehensible.
"What did you say?" Haru pricked his ears and leaned forward.
Mina opened her eyes again, and smiled. "… nothing. Basically what I mean is… I like to tease people, and you've been kind of a tough nut to crack in the past, so I really felt a need to get you good… and I took it too far this time. Teasing is how I've always expressed positive feelings towards people, but I don't want to make excuses."
She still wants to be friends. She probably doesn't like me that way, but still… this is a relief . "Mina, like I said…" Haru put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, hoping he wasn't overstepping his boundaries. "I'm over it. Much worse things have been done to me than that."
The girl raised her eyebrows. "Like what?"
Haru froze. Oh no. Is this where I talk about my parents? I know Todoroki said I should talk about it at some point but this is too soon and I don't know how I'm going to say it and the circumstances are weird and I… his Quirk spun in low orbit, increasing his heart rate.
Mina's lips curled upward into a smirk. "Did you get teased by other girls in middle school or something?"
YES! She suspects nothing, jump on it! "Well, you know… I had my share of unrequited crushes, and stuff…"
She snorted. "Oh, man. I am SO asking Toru about this."
"She probably knows nothing. We weren't in the same friend group."
Mina gave him a side-glance. "You didn't really make a fool of yourself in middle school, did you?"
"… Nah, not really. I mostly stayed low. Didn't work ALL the time, obviously, but…"
"Good." She suddenly moved forward and poked his nose, sitting solidly on his lap. "All the guys who confessed to me in middle school just talked about how exotic I looked. It kind of grated on me after a while."
"Okay. I'll be sure to never compliment you, ever."
She giggled.
"Say, Mina? You're still on my lap." She was warm and soft, and much too close. A guy could fall in love if you're not careful. God, why is she so touchy-feely all the time? How am I meant to interpret this?
"I know." She smiled.
"Erm…" Haru shifted. "Is this your solution to not sitting on the grass?"
"Mmhmm. I'll get off if you want…" she made a show of pouting.
"Here, let me eat at least." Haru lifted her up and stretched his legs out straight, letting Mina sit a bit further away past his knees. Then he picked up their sandwiches, handed hers over, and opened his own.
For a few minutes, the sounds of chewing and crinkling paper could be heard. "Haru," Mina said after a while, chewing, "you're kind of a hunk, you know."
"Hmm?"
"Well… you kinda lifted me up just now without even thinking about it. You wouldn't be able to tell at first glance… but your shoulders are really broad, and you've got nice arms." Her eyes twinkled.
"So you like hanging out with muscular guys, huh. Does your shallowness know no bounds?"
She giggled. "I'm not the one who went for the cutest girl in class."
"What ARE you talking about."
"You… and our resident rich girl…"
"Oh, Yaomomo. As I've said before, there is nothing there. You're seeing phantoms."
Mina suddenly snapped down to look at him, killing intent in her eye. "Since when do you call her Yaomomo? I thought only the girls called her that."
"She asked me to. Also, I'm one of the girls, remember?"
Mina snickered. "So that's how you've been feeling. No wonder you wanted Sero and Shoji along. But hey, Yaomomo ASKED you to call her that? Grrr, she may be attempting to use her feminine wiles. You mustn't fall prey to wanton women, Haru."
"Not to worry. If she tries to shove those knockers in my face, I will alert you immediately."
"What? Not gonna beat her up yourself?"
"I… can't do that."
"You didn't have a problem beating up Shiozaki."
"Come on… I just pushed her. And I even avoided her boobs!"
"Hehe… I noticed that. That was part of what motivated me to kiss your cheek."
"Noted."
"But wow, Haru. You must respect women a lot." She smirked. "We should go to the shopping district and buy you a fedora."
"I respect nice humans who are respectable. Which I'm beginning to think you are not."
"I mean…" she swallowed the last bite of her sandwich. "At least I'm not Yaomomo, attempting to use her feminine wiles on you."
That got him. Haru blushed. "Umm… what do you mean by that? You keep saying it."
She stood up from his legs and balled up the wrapping paper. "You don't get it? Most guys in our class are either plain or have some weird alteration to their appearance. You're one of four viable specimens. Before this everyone was after Todoroki, or Bakugo… but now they'll all be after you."
"I feel utterly objectified. Is this what you heard in the locker room? Plus, I'm pretty sure Uraraka likes Midoriya."
"Oh, certainly." She laughed. "Do you want me to help them get together?"
"Nothing would please me more."